ppl. a. [UN-1 8.]
1. Of persons: Not wedded; unmarried. Also absol.
a. 1230. Hali Meid., 13 (Titus MS.). Þa ilke sari wrecches, þat i þat ilke fule wurðinge, unweddede, walewið.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 7352. Þe fyrst [manner of lechery] ys fornycacyoun, Whan two vnweddyd haue mysdon.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XX. 111. Al manere men wedded & vnwedded.
c. 1430. Syr Gener. (Roxb.), 8699. Haue ye noo drede That my ladie vnwedded is?
1484. Caxton, Fables of Æsop, VI. xvi. To them [sc. the aged] is better to be vnwedded than to be euer in trouble with an euyl wyf.
1577. trans. Bullinger’s Decades, 231/2. If a woman play the harlotte with an vnwedded man.
c. 1590. Marlowe, Faustus, i. So shall the subiects of euery element Be alwaies seruiceable to vs three;… Sometimes like women, or vnwedded maides.
1718. Rowe, trans. Lucan, IX. 1134. Unwedded Pallas lent a Sister’s aid [to Perseus].
1791. Cowper, Odyssey, XI. 44. Brides, youths unwedded, seniors…, And girls.
1825. Scott, Betrothed, xix. A richly-dowered maiden, unwedded, and unlikely to wed.
1877. E. R. Conder, Basis Faith, v. 225. A large proportion of the … most vigorous in body and mind die unwedded or childless.
transf. c. 1792. Cowper, Death of Damon, 89. My rambling vines, unwedded to the trees, Bear shrivell’d grapes.
1811. Lamb, Elia, I. Bachelor’s Complaint. Cerasia … sent away a dish of Morellas … to her husband,… and recommended a plate of less extraordinary gooseberries to my unwedded palate.
1837. Lytton, Athens, I. 377. Pisistratus conducted himself towards the fair Cæsyra with a chastity … unwelcome to her affection…. The unwedded wife communicated the mortifying secret to her mother.
2. Free from, unattended by, marriage.
1804. Europ. Mag., XLV. 192/2. ’Twixt wedded and unwedded loving Great is the difference, they say.
1822. Milman, Martyr of Antioch, 101. The saintly quiet of the unwedded state.
1882. Farrar, Early Chr., II. 114. Expressions which … convey no such exaltation of the unwedded life.
Hence Unweddedness.
1830. Carlyle, Misc. (1840), II. 368. It is not always our duty to marry; but it is always our duty to abide by right;… not to avoid unweddedness by untruthfulness.
