[UN-1 7. Cf. MDa. utimelig of weather, etc.]
1. Coming before the proper or natural time; premature: a. Of fruit. Also, not fully or properly ripened; immature.
1535. Coverdale, Isaiah xxviii. 4. It shal happen vnto him, as to an vntymely frute before the haruest come.
1561. Daus, trans. Bullinger on Apoc., 209. That ye vntimely figges fal downe in great plentie.
1568. Bible (Bishops’), Rev. vi. 13. Euen as a figge tree casteth her vntimely figges.
1644. Milton, Educ., 2. These are not matters to be wrung from poor striplings, like … the plucking of untimely fruit.
1825. A. L. Barbauld, ‘Praise to God,’ vi. Should the fig-tree’s blasted shoot Drop her green untimely fruit.
b. Of birth(s).
1538. Elyot, Abortus, an vntymely byrthe.
1634. T. Johnson, trans. Parey’s Chirurg., Wks. XXIV. xxx. 921. The causes of abortion or untimely birth, whereof the child is called an abortive, are many.
1710. Berkeley, Princ. Hum. Knowl., § 151. Monsters, untimely births, fruits blasted in the blossom.
1755. Johnson, Abortment, an untimely birth.
c. Of death, fate, etc.
1548. Elyot, Praematura mors, vntymely death.
1596. Drayton, Leg. Matilda, 648. Some say, the King repentant for this Deed,… Offered His Teares on my vntimely Graue.
1599. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Rev., I. i. Th’ untimely fate of that too beauteous boy.
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., II. xxix. 167. The bodies of children, gotten by diseased parents, are subject … to untimely death.
1709. Addison, Tatler, No. 154, ¶ 5. Souls of Infants … snatched away by untimely Ends.
1776. Gibbon, Decl. & F., xii. I. 322. A life of pleasure or virtue,… of indolence or glory, alike led to an untimely grave.
1819. Scott, Ivanhoe, xlii. Their guide pointed with solemn air to the untimely bier of Athelstane.
1847. Prescott, Peru, I. 452. Heaven … bringing them all to an untimely and miserable end.
d. In other contexts.
1565. Cooper, Thesaurus, s.v. Praecox, Vntimely laughter & that happeneth very soone, as before the childe is fortie dayes olde.
c. 1586. C’tess Pembroke, Ps. LVIII. iv. O let their brood … of springing thornes Be by untymely rooting overthrowne.
1634. Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 157. Few of them attending patiently the death of their Predecessours, but by impious meanes labour their vntimely establishment.
1746. Berkeley, Sec. Let. Tar-water, § 9. Unhappy drinkers … bringing on the untimely symptoms of old age.
e. Perishing before due time. rare–1.
1605. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iii. Law, 667. Som, thrill’d with … shafts, through hundred holes Shall ghastly gasp-out our untimely soules.
2. Unseasonable (in respect of the time of year).
a. Of frost, blight, etc.
1576. Gascoigne, Steele Gl., 455. So those imps … Are … nipt, with such untimely frosts.
1591. Spenser, Daphn., 238. O that so faire a flower so soone should fade, And through vntimely tempest fall away.
1730. Thomson, Spring, 115. If brush’d from Russian wilds a cutting gale Rise not, and … breathe Untimely frost.
1751. W. Whitehead, Hymn to Nymph, 46. Life’s latter fruits … at last fall off Shook by no boist’rous, or untimely blasts.
1797. Godwin, Enquirer, I. v. 35. [It] may … suffer an untimely blight.
1847. Longf., Ev., I. ii. 98. The harvests in England By untimely rains or untimelier heat have been blighted.
1853. C. Brontë, Villette, xxxii. I have read of those who sowed in tears, and whose harvest … perished by untimely blight.
b. In other contexts.
1593. Drayton, Shepherd’s Garl., iv. 33. O dismall day,… O stormy winter,… O most vntimely and eclipsed morrow.
1627. Abp. Abbot, in Rushw., Hist. Coll. (1659), I. 448. It is an unseasonable time to brew now, and as untimely to cut Wood.
1712. Spect., No. 404, ¶ 3. By the Assistance of Art and an hot Bed, we may possibly extort an unwilling Plant, or an untimely Sallad.
1879. Stevenson, Trav. Cevennes, 40. They were cutting aftermath,… which gave the neighbourhood … an untimely smell of hay.
3. Unseasonable, ill-timed, inopportune.
1581. J. Fielde (title), A Caveat for Parsons Hovvlet, concerning his vntimely flighte, and scriching in the cleare day lighte of the Gospell.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., II. x. 68. So vntimely breach The Prince him selfe halfe seemeth to offend.
1607–12. Bacon, Ess., Of Empire (Arb.), 298. The vnequall and vntimely interchaunge of pressing power.
1617. Woodall, Surg. Mate (1639), 3. Many dangers attending the unskilfull or untimely use thereof.
1665. Boyle, Occas. Refl., etc. (1848), 68. Men’s overeager and untimely pursuits of several desirable things.
1756. C. Lucas, Ess. Waters, III. 240. [It is] wise and just in general; but often … untimely; that is, too late.
1796. Mme. D’Arblay, Camilla, II. 370. [She] felt so much hurt by this untimely sight, that … she bent her eyes another way.
1830. Praed, Poems (1865), I. 234. All untimely question Ruffles the temper.
1867. Freeman, Norm. Conq., I. v. 328. The cause of all this untimely activity.
b. Of hours: Unusually late (or early).
1827. Scott, Highl. Widow, v. ad fin. There are many who are still unwilling, at untimely hours, to pass the oak-tree.
