ppl. a. [UN-1 8.]
1. Not put in good order or condition; not carefully or neatly arranged or attired.
In quot. 1595 the word has been variously explained, and may be formed on UNTRIM v.
1532. Hervet, Xenophon’s Househ., 18 b. The horse beareth hym … that wyll se the grounde be nat let alone vntylled and vntrymmed.
1540. Hyrde, trans. Vives’ Instr. Chr. Wom. (1541), I ii. A mayde nat pyked, and fayre, and wanton…: but sad, pale, and vntrimmed.
1592. R. W[ilmot], Tancred & Gism., V. ii. So let thy tresses … Vntrimmed hang about thy bared necke.
1595. Shaks., John, III. i. 209. The deuill tempts thee heere, In likenesse of a new vntrimmed Bride.
1648. J. Quarles, Fons Lachrym., 71. Man’s like a house…; if we survay The inward rooms, there we may find enough Of untrim’d natures sluttish houshold-stuff.
1813. Scott, Rokeby, I. xxxii. Yon untrimm’d lamp, whose yellow gleam Is mingling with the cold moonbeam.
1817. Byron, Beppo, xlvi., note. Without the sex, our sonnets Would seem unfinish’d, like their untrimm’d bonnets.
2. Not made trim by cutting, pruning, or otherwise reducing to shape.
1625. K. Long, trans. Barclay’s Argenis, V. xi. 367. The pleasing young Groves … with their deepe silence and untrimmed simplicity.
1633. Ford, Love’s Sacrifice, V. i. A crooked leg, a scambling foot,… or such an untrimm’d beard As yours.
1687. Lond. Gaz., No. 2307/4. The said Nag is … rough Coated and untrim’d.
1808. Scott, Marm., III. Introd. Prune the vine, But … leave untrimm’d the eglantine.
1848. Akerman, Introd. Study Coins, iv. 56. A grim bearded untrimmed head.
1892. Oldfield, Man. Typog., v. A demy 8vo. page measures, untrimmed, about 83/4″×51/2″.
fig. 1849. M. Arnold, New Sirens, 138. Germs, your untrimm’d passion overgrew.
1863. [see UNTRIMMABLE a.].
3. Not properly balanced.
a. 1732. Gay, Fables (1738), II. v. 44. The boat untrimm’d admits the tide.
Hence Untrimmedness.
1883. H. James, Portr. Places, viii. 167. [The old castle’s] quiet rustiness and untrimmedness only help it to be familiar.
