a. [OE. unswéte (UN-1 7.), = WFris. on-, ûnswiet, OS. unswôti, MLG. unsote, MDu. onsoete (Du. onzoet), OHG. unsuozi (MHG. unsüeze, G. unsüss). Cf. UNSOOT a.]
1. Unpleasant, disagreeable, distasteful.
c. 890. Wærferth, trans. Gregory’s Dial., IV. xxxvii. 318. Þæt … of þære ea wære reocende se mist … unswetes stences.
c. 1000. Saxon Leechd., II. 48/14. Þonne ne biþ he to unswete to ʓestincanne.
c. 1320. Sir Tristr., 968. Tristrem, y telle it þe, A þing, is me vnswete.
c. 1384. Chaucer, H. Fame, I. 72. A floode of helle vnswete.
1412–20. Lydg., Chron. Troy, II. 895. Þe meschef of her vnhappy fyne, And how Fortune was to hem vnswete—Al þis was tolde … of þe poete. Ibid., III. 3928. I hope … so mortally to greue Þe Grekis alle,… Þat þei & þou shul fele ful vnswete.
1509. Fisher, Wks., I. 279. Worldly pleasures were to hym vnswete.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., II. vii. 14. The troublous stormes, that tosse The priuate state, and make the life vnsweet.
1603. J. Davies (Heref.), Microcosmos, Wks. (Grosart), I. 34. Wakfull thoughts … That make their sleepes vnsweet, and yet as short.
1633. T. Adams, Exp. 2 Peter ii. 8. Yet how unsweet were our sacrifice, the bran and dregs of our dotage.
1848. L. Hunt, Jar Honey, i. 7. Provided the result … be not un-sweet to the reader.
1876. Meredith, Beauch. Career, III. i. 2. Certain terms in the letters…, unsweet to ladies, began to trouble his mind.
b. Of a person. rare.
a. 1600[?]. in Percy Folio (1867), I. 114. Alle the contraye had wonder greatt Fro when she com, that foule vnswete; They sawe neuer of so fowlle a thyng.
2. Not sweet or pleasant to the taste.
c. 1440. Pallad. on Husb., IX. 72. Slak sonde [yields water] lymous and lene, vnswete & depe.
1530. Palsgr., 328/2. Unswete, mal sauouré.
1547. Homilies, I. Falling fr. God, II. ¶ 3. We … bring forth wild grapes, that is to say, sour works, unsweet, unsavoury, and unfruitful.
a. 1643. J. Shute, Judgem. & Mercy (1645), 201. God will poure him out of his mouth as a man doth that that is unsavory and unsweet that troubles his tongue.
1661. Lovell, Hist. Anim. & Min., 202. But the flesh is soft, unsweet, ferine, mucous.
3. Not smelling sweetly.
1605. Breton, Old Man’s Lesson, Wks. (Grosart), II. 17/1. Which is the sweetest Beast in the world? A Ciuit Cat. And which is the moste vnsweet? A dogge when he hath eaten carrion.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 110. Tame Conies which are kept in a close and vnsweet ayre.
1825. Q. Rev., XXXI. 381. Edinburgh has been (to use a gentle term) unsweet in former times.
1860. Thackeray, in Cornh. Mag., II. 635. The canals not unsweet, and busy and picturesque with old-world life.
1879. Pall Mall Budget, 17 Oct., 12. That damp, chill, and unsweet little cluster of rooms.
fig. 1811. Lamb, Hogarth, Wks. 1908, I. 107. That his imagination was naturally unsweet, and that he delighted in raking into every species of moral filth.
4. Unpleasant to the ear.
1579. G. Harvey, Commend. Lett., in Spenser’s Wks. (1912), 641/1. The sweetest Farewell … that so vnsweete a Tong, and so sowre a paire of Lippes can affoorde.
a. 1586. Sidney, Astr. & Stella, lxxxiv. My Muse, to some eares not vnsweet, Tempers her words [etc.].
1589. Fleming, Virg. Georg., To Rdr. How vnsweete a sound so euer they seeme to make in the eare.
a. 1616. B. Jonson, Epigr., On Fanous Voy., Wks. 817. When the noise doth beate Vpon your eares, of discords so vn-sweet.
1875. Clodd, Childhood of Religions, i. 2. If you wish to open … your ears to the sounds that give forth no unsweet notes.
1894. Mrs. H. Ward, Marcella, I. 312. A little laugh, which … was not unsweet.
5. Not sweetly attractive.
1866. Miss Mulock, Noble Life, xiv. Nor was her face unsweet now; but it bore tokens of what she had gone through.
Hence Unsweetly adv.; Unsweetness.
1596. Barrough, Meth. Physick (ed. 3), 425. Which deceit … you may easilie find out by the vnsweetnes of smelling.
1842. Mrs. Browning, Grk. Chr. Poets, i. ¶ 1. The voice … sang not unsweetly, if more faintly than before.
