a. [UN-1 7.]
1. Not safe against attack or mishap; liable to danger or risk; exposed to hazard or peril; insecure.
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 2136. Bot, for þe cite was vnsure, þe seggis within Miȝt noȝt þe braidis a-bide of bernes enarmed.
c. 1520. in Yorks. Archæol. Jrnl. (1892), XII. 208. Who that puttith his trust in them I call hym most unsure.
a. 1542. Wyatt, Poems (1913), I. 350. There is a rok … of suche nature, That drawithe the yron from the woode, And leveth the ship unsure.
1586. J. Hooker, Hist. Irel., in Holinshed, II. 73/2. In Wales … he found his defense so weake, and vnsure, that [etc.].
1600. Holland, Livy, IX. 345. [They] had seene by experience … how unsure a cittie they inhabited and not unpregnable.
1649. G. Daniel, Trinarch., Hen. IV., cclii. Hee knew his Claime, and how vnsure he sate Midst many enimies.
b. Not affording or conducive to safety; lacking in security; unsafe, liable to yield or give way.
1426. Lydg., De Guil. Pilgr., 13355. Placys that be most peryllous,… Most dredful and most vnsure, Ther I logge, off nature.
c. 1530. More, Answ. Frith, Wks. 842/2. If ye will … deale surely for youre self, ye should rather leaue your vnsure waye whiche ye belieue, and come … to beleue as we doe.
a. 1547. Surrey, Æneid, II. 31. Now but a bay, and rode vnsure for ship.
1588. Reg. Privy Council Scot., IV. 299. Throw the multitude of deidlie feidis and unsure passage.
1609. Holland, Amm. Marcell., 201. Neither is it possible … to set firme footing upon the ground, so unsure it is and slipperie.
a. 1661. Holyday, Juvenal (1673), 232. The ship … made but of unsure or dangerous planks.
1727. P. Walker, Biogr. Presbyt. (1827), I. 225. A very loose unsure Foundation.
1774. Burke, Sp. Amer. Tax., Wks. II. 420. It was indeed a very curious show, but utterly unsafe to touch, and unsure to stand on.
1830. Cunningham, Brit. Paint., II. 200. It seems they make unsure work at that church.
1866. G. Macdonald, Ann. Q. Neighb., vi. Down the oak staircase … [I] came very deliberately, feeling the unsure contact of sole and wax.
2. Marked or characterized by uncertainty or unsteadfastness; dependent on chance or accident; liable to fail; uncertain, precarious.
c. 1412. Hoccleve, De Reg. Princ., 16. Bysily in my mynde I gan revolue The welthe onsure of everye creature.
c. 1430. Lydg., Min. Poems (Percy Soc.), 197. The world unsuyr, fortune transmutable.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., V. xiv. 560. Vnperfit men … ouȝten chese ful ofte the sikerer and surer good to hem bifore the vnsurer good.
1509. Barclay, Shyp Folys, 17 b. He that is symple, and on the grounde doth lye,… Is surer by moche than he that lyeth on hye: Nowe vp, nowe downe vnsure as a Balaunce.
1559. Mirr. Mag., B j. Ryches and promocion be vaine thynges and vnsure.
1584. C. Robinson, etc., Handf. Pleas. Delights, D 3 b. Svch bitter fruit thy loue doth yeelde,… such hope vnsure.
1614. T. Adams, White Devil, 37. Their dwelling, like Cains, [is] very vnsure.
1629. Maxwell, trans. Herodian, 108. Holding it a sufficient guerdon of an vnsure Soueraignty.
1641. Baker, Chron., Edw. VI., 82. King Edward supposing his state to be most safe when indeed it was most unsure.
1711. Pope, Temple Fame, 508. Unsure the tenure, but how vast the fine!
1755. J. Duncombe, in Connoisseur, No. 50. 296. Whose houses are as unsure a possession, as if they were built with cards.
1848. T. Aird, Chr. Bride, II. xvi. Old dragon Erc must we secure;… our scheme were else unsure.
1873. M. Arnold, Lit. & Dogma, 138. The moral is, what an unsure stay, then, must miracles be!
3. a. Of persons, etc.: Not to be trusted or relied upon; unreliable, untrustworthy.
c. 1445. Pecock, Donet, 208. Þou schalt considre … how brotyl, vnsure a wrecche þou art.
a. 1470. Harding, Chron., Ded. v. That people … Hath … been so vntowarde, So vnstedfast, inconstaunte, and vnsure, That [etc.]. Ibid., XXXIX. viii. [Catellus] Tenne yere reigned,… And dyed so vnder his vnsure deité.
a. 1589. Palfreyman, Baldwin’s Mor. Philos. (1600), 70. Hee is … deceiptfull, of his promise vnsure.
1610. Healey, St. Aug. Citie of God (1620), 409. The senses are weake, dull and vnsure teachers.
1635. Heywood, Hierarchy, VI. 331. Than th’ Heart of man … There’s nothing more inconstant and vnsure.
1653. Holcroft, Procopius, Goth. Wars, IV. 145. If we prove unsure to them, we shall not be trusty to you.
1790. Burke, Fr. Rev., 94. They are always bad citizens, and perfectly unsure connexions.
1807. Coleridge, Lett. (1895), 513. Which sures are such very unsure folks that [etc.].
1867. Swinburne, Songs bef. Sunrise (1871), 58. Though she slay them, yet shall they trust in her, For unsure there is nought nor unjust in her.
1888. Stevenson, Black Arrow, 21. Keep an eye on Sir Daniel; he is unsure.
† b. Weak, feeble. Obs. rare–1.
1432–50. trans. Higden (Rolls), VI. 51. Grawntynge to theyme a lytelle wyne … thro the whiche the unsure flesche [L. caro infirma] scholde be noryschede.
4. Subject to doubt or uncertainty; not fixed, sure, or certain; doubtful.
c. 1445. Pecock, Donet, 107. If in dyuynite were no strenger groundis … dyuynite were a symple and an vnsure faculte.
1534. More, Treat. Passion, Wks. 1279/2. Sure sory looking, for the vnsure time of deathe.
a. 1586. Sidney, Arcadia, I. iv. A thing no more unpleasant, then unsure, for the preserving of vertue.
1595. Daniel, Civ. Wars, II. iv. That, in the smoake of innouations strange Builde huge vncertaine plots of vnsure pride.
1612. R. Carpenter, Soule’s Sent., 90. The speedy approach of death, sure in the end, vnsure in the time.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., II. vi. 100. It will be unsure to rely on any preservative.
1691. Weesils, ii. 10. Conquest unsure made you refuse before.
1849. Cupples, Green Hand, xiv. In the unsure dusky sight I had of it, certainly, it [sc. a landmark] wore somewhat of that look.
5. Of persons, etc.: Lacking certainty, assurance, or confidence; not sure, assured, or certainly knowing; uncertain. Const. of, for, to, or with clause.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 11540. And now is nedfull for noye … All my gold for to geue,… Kepid in hurd, holdyn full long;… And I vnsure of my-self, my sorow is the more.
1412–20. Lydg., Chron. Troy, IV. 2144. She wolde for no þing be vnsure or puruyaunce, nor with-oute stoor.
a. 1461. Pol. Poems (Rolls), II. 241. Ful unsewyr atte the laste may he be To sette hys herte in swyche abundaunce.
a. 1500. Chaucer’s Dreme, 1732. Wild beastes … ran as of their lives unsure.
1534. More, Comf. agst. Trib., I. vi. (1573), 14 b. So blind is our mortalitie…, so vnsure also what maner mind we wil haue to morow.
1564. Feckenham, Lett. to Cecil, in Strype, Ann. Ref., xlv. (1709), 460. Being always after unsure, how, or by what means, he might be … knit thereunto again.
1579. Fenton, Guicciard., I. 15. He is … of nothing more vnsure then to find remedy in his perils.
1595. Daniel, Civ. Wars, II. xlvii. And here my sou’raigne to make longer stay T’attend for what you are vnsure will fall May slippe th’ occasion and incense their will.
a. 1618. Raleigh, Observ. (1651), 56. Numbers of people that were … thrust out of their habitations, or unsafe, or unsure for their lives.
1628. Bp. Hall, Old Relig., 147. That God euer heares vs, wee are as sure, as wee are vnsure to be heard of Saints.
1679. in Wodrow, Hist. Suff. Ch. Scotl. (1722), II. App. xviii. 18. Not finding it fit to unhinge himself of the one Party, while he was yet unsure of the other.
a. 1850. Rossetti, Dante & Circle (1874), 49. Thus, being all unsure which path to take.
1855. Sir J. Paget, in Mem. & Lett. (1901), 209. I am unsure whether I can ever again have time.
1884. A. Vambéry, Life & Advent., vii. (1889), 71. Unsure of my discovery, I did not address him.
b. Without const.
a. 1500. Chaucer’s Dreme, 894. Thus was I in a joyous dout, Sure and unsurest of that rout.
a. 1536. Tindale, in Marbeck, Bk. of Notes (1581), 366. For then shall the conscience be vnsure, doubting [etc.].
a. 1555. Latimer, Lett., in Foxe, A. & M. (1563), 1327/1. If they saye they bee vnsure, when shall you bee sure that hathe so doubtefull teachers and vnsure?
1624. Heywood, Gunaik., IV. 193. A man within himselfe unsure.
1896. Mrs. Caffyn, Quaker Grandmother, 155. His mother looked as meek and unsure as a grocer’s widow.
6. Marked or characterized by lack of sureness, assurance, or certainty.
1633. P. Fletcher, Purple Isl., VIII. xiii. With him went Doubt, stagg’ring with steps unsure, That every way, and neither way enclin’d.
1829. Cunningham, Brit. Paint., I. 207. His touch was unsure and he painted somewhat coarsely.
1867. M. Arnold, New Poems, 132. Light ignorance, and hurrying, unsure thoughts.
1883. R. W. Dixon, Mano, II. i. 66. Never would he … His friend forsake, or make his faith unsure.
