ppl. a. [OE. unteald (UN-1 8 b), MDu. ongetellet, -telt (Du. ongeteld), MLG. ungetelt (LG. -tald), MHG. ungezalt, -zelt (G. ungezahlt, -zählt), ON. útaliðr, útaldr, (M)Da. utalt.]
† 1. a. Not counted or reckoned; not counted out or paid. Obs.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., etc., III. 264. Be ðam dæʓe spræc se wisa Augustinus,… ʓyf he byð forlæten unteald, þær rihte awent eall ðæs ʓeares ymbryn þwyres.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Miller’s T., 594. Certes were it gold Or in a poke nobles all vntold, Thou sholdest have.
a. 1400. Octouian, 821. He tok the floryns all vntold.
14[?]. Tundale’s Vis., 64. He went … To a mon to ascon his pay For thre horsis that he had sold For the whych the pennys wer untold.
c. 1600. Shaks., Sonn., cxxxvi. Among a number one is reckon’d none. Then in the number let me passe vntold.
† b. Not enumerated or reckoned up; unspecified. Obs.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 18549. Þaa Iuus sau Þis ilk man do signes sere—Þe blind to se, þe dumb at here,… And oþer takens fele vn-teld.
c. 1340. Hampole, Pr. Consc., 7447. Wha couth þan telle … Alle þe syns … And leve nane untald, gret ne smale, Þe whilk a man has here fallen in.
c. 1425. Cursor M., 23139 (Trin.). In pride & tricchery … And in vntolde synnes fele.
a. 1450. Le Morte Arth., 3239. Forthe went they … To syr mordred and hys lordis,… And an C knyghtis all vn-tolde.
1607. Tourneur, Rev. Trag., II. i. Fair trees … Are cut to maintain head-tires—much untold—All thrives but chastity, she lies a cold.
2. Uncounted, unreckoned, because of amount or numbers; iminense, vast.
Untold gold (= any amount of gold), prob. originally in sense 1 a (= not carefully or exactly counted).
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 2677. Þare fand he tresour vntald.
c. 1440. Gesta Rom., viii. 22. Þe kyngdom of hevene, in þe which is tresour vntold.
1672. W. Walker, Parœm., 24. You may trust him in the dark; with untold gold.
1754. Connoisseur, No. 18, ¶ 3. He … boasts that you may safely trust him with untold gold.
1782. Cowper, Alex. Selkirk, 25. Religion! what treasure untold Resides in that heavenly word!
1849. Grote, Greece, II. liv. VI. 605. The untold number of these barbarians was reported as overwhelming.
1853. J. H. Newman, Hist. Sk. (1873), I. I. ii. 83. All the untold riches or his treasury.
b. With plural sbs.: In large numbers; numberless, countless.
a. 1500[?]. Peblis to the Play, 46. The bagpyp blew, and thai out threw out of the townis vntald.
1659. W. Chamberlayne, Pharon., I. III. 4. A fruitful pasture … Where in untold droves did feed His bellowing herds.
1819. Shelley, Mask of Anarchy, lxxii. Ye who suffer woes untold.
1868. Helps, Realmah, viii. I. 280. Untold ages have passed since the day when [etc.].
1874. Geikie, Gt. Ice Age, xxvii. 376. The genial climate … lasted for untold centuries.
c. With abstract sbs. Unmeasured, unlimited.
In early ME. unitald fultum occurs (Cott. Hom., 233).
1781. Cowper, Table-t., 330. Incomparable gem! thy worth untold.
1825. J. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, I. 60. His mouth was agitated … with untold sorrow.
1868. Morris, Earthly Par., I. 147. He seemed to see the ancient sage Shrivelled yet more with untold age.
1875. T. W. Higginson, Hist. U. S., xxi. 212. It had also cost the Americans untold suffering.
3. Not related or recounted.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Pars. T., ¶ 1010. Lat no blotte be bihynde, lat no synne been vntoold as fer as thow hast remembraunce.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 563. The truthe of the tale [is] vntold to your ere.
a. 1450. Knt. de la Tour (1868), 12. Whanne a man is shreue, he shulde leue no thinge vntolde.
1533. More, Debell. Salem, Wks. 1009/1. I haue … proued afore that he must mene so: or elles must haue left his tale vntold.
1565. Stapleton, trans. Staphylus’ Apol., 175 b. Rather then to sufter a … heresy vncomptrolled, or the truthe vntolde.
1623. Middleton & Rowley, Sp. Gipsy, I. v. The cause … shall be to all the world untold.
a. 1645. Milton, Arcades, 41. Where ye may more neer behold What shallow-searching Fame hath left untold.
1700. Dryden, Pref. to Fables, ¶ 13. Such tales shall be left untold by me.
1796. Mme. D’Arblay, Camilla, X. xiii. A reciprocal confidence that left nothing untold, not an action unrelated.
1827. Mrs. Hemans, Last Constantine, xxv. In their mien … Things by the brave untold may fearfully be read!
1875. J. P. Hopps, Princ. Relig., xvii. 53. Until a thought or a disclosure is comprehended, it is as though it were untold—it is not revealed.
4. Not informed (of a fact).
1590. Spenser, F. Q., I. iii. 38. For the old man well knew he, though vntold, In … magicke to haue wondrous might.
