a. Forms: 5–7 unweldy, 6 -ye, 6–7 -ie; 5–7 unweeldy, 5 -weeldi, 6 -ie; 6–7 unwealdy, -ie; 6–8 (9) unweildy (6 -weyldy, Sc. wnveildy), 6–7 -ie; 6– unwieldy, 7 -ie; 6–7 unwildy, 6 -wildie, Sc. -wyldy. (Also 5–7 vn-, 5–6 on-.) [UN-1 7, 5 b + WIELDY a. Cf. the early UNWIELD a. and UNWIELDLY a.]
† 1. Of persons, the body, etc.: Lacking strength; weak, impotent; feeble, infirm. Also const. with preps., as for, of, to (with inf.). Obs.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Manciple’s Prol., 55. So vnweeldy was this sory palled goost.
1421–2. Hoccleve, Dialog, 248. My lymes sumdell now vnweldy be.
1442. in Proc. King’s Counc. Irel. (Rolls), App. 274. The said Erlle … is aged, vnweldy and vnlustie.
1513. Douglas, Æneid, VIII. v. 71. Furth held the king vnweildy in auld ȝeris.
1584. R. Scot, Discov. Witchcr., I. vi. (1886), 10. A toothless, old, impotent, and unweldie woman.
1606. G. W[oodcocke], Hist. Ivstine, XXXIV. 111. Altogither giuen to sloath, and growne so vnweeldy through dayly ryot.
1621. T. Granger, Expos. Eccles., xii. 321. So doe olde men, because they are vnwealdie, and vnable to auoide dangers.
1659. W. Chamberlayne, Pharon., I. iii. 72. At that stroke his Limbs Slack their unwieldy Nerves.
absol. 1550. Crowley, Way to Wealth, 685. To releue the vnweldy that be not able to labour for theire fode.
(b) 1570. Foxe, A. & M. (ed. 2), I. 80/1. Narcissus … was vnwieldy for his age to gouerne that function alone.
1588. T. Hughes, Misfort. Arthur, I. ii. 13. Any wight vnwildie of herselfe.
1592. Nashe, P. Penilesse, E 2 b. To corrupt the braine, and make it vnapt and vnweldie for anything.
1642. Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., II. xix. 128. The weilding of his sword hath not made him unweildie to do any other work.
† b. Of age, etc.: Characterized or attended by infirmity, weakness, or impotence. Obs.
1430–40. Lydg., Bochas, I. 2127. In his vnweeldi age He was compellid to holden his passage Out off Thebes. Ibid. (c. 1450), Secrees, 645. Yif inpotence of his vnweldy age, In his desirs put hym nat abak.
1502. Will of Wilbey (Somerset Ho.). Oppressed with gret unweldy age.
a. 1592. Greene, Jas. IV., III. iii. Mine age vnweldie and vnmeete for toyle.
1659. W. Chamberlayne, Pharon., II. iii. 167. Although unwieldy age allow Not strength to sell my life at such a rate Honour aimes at.
1685. Dryden, trans. Horace, Odes, I. ix. 28. E’re with’ring time the taste destroyes, With sickness and unwieldy years!
2. Of persons or animals: Moving ungracefully or with difficulty, by reason of corpulence or ponderousness; lacking litheness or flexibility; awkward, clumsy.
1530. Palsgr., 328/2. Unweldye, boystouse, lourt.
1538. Starkey, England, 79. In a dropcy the body ys vnweldy, vnlusty, and slo.
1563. B. Googe, Eglogs, etc. (Arb.), 69. A bluddy Butcher byg and blunt, a vyle vnweldy knaue,… at hym … let dryue.
1602. 2nd Pt. Return Parnass., III. ii. 1257. Then the old vnweldy Camels gin to dance.
1650. R. Stapylton, Strada’s Low-C. Wars, x. 11. Others that wore Armes which made them unweldier, not so nimble to avoid a hurt.
1677. Plot, Oxfordsh., 134. The motion of so unwildy Creatures as Elephants.
1741. J. Wilford, Mem., App. 41. From the unwieldiest Beast of Land or Deep.
1779. Mirror, No. 8. I have seen the unwieldy burgess changed into a slender gentleman.
1823. Scott, Quentin D., xxix. He was, though now somewhat unwieldy, a powerful, athletic man.
1867. E. F. Bowden trans. Fathers of Desert, 149. An unwieldy Bactrian camel had gone mad.
transf. 1553. T. Wilson, Rhet., 2 b. Nothyng is more nedefull, then … to cherishe these our lompishe and vnweldie natures.
1606. Chapman, Gentl. Usher, III. ii. 174. She shall have an unweldie and dull soule If she be nothing moov’d with my poore tongue.
1635. A. Stafford, Panegyricke, in Female Glory, e 7. The toylesomne burthen of unweldy clay.
b. Characterized by clumsy massiveness, awkward shape, or ponderousness.
1582. Stanyhurst, Æneis, III. (Arb.), 83. When that … strayts shal be opned neere craggy vnwieldye Pelorus.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., VI. viii. 28. Th’ other Knight, Whom with his weight vnweldy downe he held.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit., I. 39. As a ship of exceeding great bulke … endangered through the own unweldy hugenesse.
1671. Milton, Samson, 54. But what is strength without a double share of wisdom, vast, unwieldy, burdensom.
1720. Pope, Iliad, XVI. 834. As when two mules … Drag some vast beam, or mast’s unwieldy length.
1753. Hogarth, Anal. Beauty, vi. 30. Elephants and whales please us with their unwieldy greatness.
1793. T. Beddoes, Observ., 101. Two cases of unwieldy corpulence.
1828. Lytton, Pelham, II. xxi. His person … was of no unwieldy obesity.
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., I. xx. 260. Of such unwieldy bulk as not unfrequently to be mistaken for the walrus.
1892. Photogr. Ann., 374. On account of its unwieldy dimensions.
c. Expressed, manifested, or exhibited in a clumsy, awkward, or ungraceful manner; awkwardly performed.
a. 1635. Corbet, Poems (1807), 107. What a sting Of lust do their unwildy daunces bring?
1648. J. Beaumont, Psyche, VII. xxxii. O’rpowr’d with most unweildy thanks and praise.
1728. Thomson, Spring, 776. The broad Monsters … flounce, and tumble in unwieldy Joy.
1748. Anson’s Voy., II. i. 124. Their motion being the most unweildy that can be conceived.
1789. Cowper, On Queen’s Visit to London, 20. [Water] Upspouted by a whale in air, T’express unwieldy joy.
1824. Miss Ferrier, Inher., lxxviii. The manners of Lady C. … made her feel her own as something unwieldy and overgrown.
1850. L. Hunt, Autobiog., xvii. (1860), 268. Two grampuses … interested us extremely by their unwieldy gambols.
3. a. Of weapons: Difficult to handle or wield. Also transf.
a. 1547. Surrey, Æneid, II. (1557), C ii b. The aged man … Forceless … cast his weake unweldy dart.
1595. Locrine, III. iv. 44. This great vnwildie club.
1646. H. Lawrence, Comm. Angells, 173. The weapon would be too heavy, to unweildy for us to use.
1700. S. L., trans. Fryke’s Voy. E. Ind., 160. With my unwildy weapon … I struck him into the left side.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe, II. (Globe), 368. These Swords were strange great unweildy Things.
1745. P. Thomas, Jrnl. Anson’s Voy., 289. Pole-axes like ours, but somewhat more rough and unweildy.
b. Difficult to control, guide, move, manipulate, etc., by virtue of size, shape, or weight; clumsily massive, awkwardly large; unmanageable.
1552. Elyot, s.v. Inhabilis, A ship that by reason of the biggenesse is vnwildie.
1644. Milton, Areop. (Arb.), 7. Untill hee see our small divided maniples cutting through at every angle of his ill united and unweildy brigade.
1663. Cowley, The Complaint, v. The dull work of thy unweildy Plough.
1679. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., ix. 161. These Doors are commonly un-weildy to lift off and on.
1774. J. Bryant, Mythol., II. 403. Ships, which were unwieldy, and of great burden.
1814. Ld. J. Russell, in S. Walpole, Life (1889), I. 75. His legs being quite swollen and unwieldy.
1865. Kingsley, Herew., xxi. A pole … which he dragged after him, like an unwieldy tail.
1879. S. C. Bartlett, Egypt to Pal., xix. 406. Division-walls,… composed of large and unwieldy stones.
c. fig., transf., and in fig. context.
1538. Starkey, England, iii. 79. We haue ouer-many [priests], wych … make our polytyke body vnweldy and heuy.
1589. Almond for Parrat, B iij. His … burlibond adiunctes, that so pester his former edition with their vnweldie phrase, as no true syllogisme can haue elbowe roome.
1612. Drayton, Poly-olb., ix. 139. [To] make us Britains beare Th’ vnwieldy Norman yoke.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., IV. 144. This vnwealdy body [of the Ottoman dominion in Persia] hauing two heads, began to decline.
1665. Boyle, Occas. Refl., IV. xix. 125. Though an unwieldy Affluence may afford some empty Pleasure to the Imagination.
a. 1704. T. Brown, Praise Poverty, Wks. 1720, I. 113. Raising their own Fortunes to an unweildy Bulk.
1744. Akenside, Pleas. Imag., III. 117. Hints deep-omened with unwieldy schemes, And dark portents of state.
1777. Burke, Lett. to Sheriffs of Bristol, Wks. III. 187. The unwieldy haughtiness of a great ruling nation.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., I. p. vi. The second fault of Guthrie’s Grammar … is its unwieldy and disproportionate account of Great Britain.
1807. J. Barlow, Columb., VI. 331. Athenian youths, the unwieldy war to meet, Couch the stiff lance.
1826–7. H. Neele, Lit. Rem. (1829), 49. The ‘Iliad’ [of Chapman] is written in the cumbrous and unwieldy old English measure of fourteen syllables.
absol. 1702. Steele, Funeral, III. 44. That strong Masculine thing … pretends to all the Tenderness in the World! and would Fain put the Unwieldy upon us for the Soft, the Languid!
4. Indisposed to submit to guidance or command; restive, recalcitrant, indocile. Also const. to.
1513. Douglas, Æneid, XIII. vi. 34. [He] went … the onweldy common pepill ilkane To caus adres eftir thar faculte.
1549. Coverdale, etc., Erasm. Par. Titus, 28. That nacion beyng rebellious and vnweyldy to be ordered.
1584. Lodge, Alarum, E iv. What praise deserueth he that will proffer … the raine to an unwildie colt?
1611. Speed, Hist. Gt. Brit., IX. xvi. § 30. 659/2. The Flemings grew vnweildie to his commandements.
1730. T. Boston, Mem., vi. (1899), 67. In the forenoon I thought my heart was very unwieldy.
fig. and transf. c. 1611. Chapman, Iliad, XIV. 13. As when with vnwieldie waues, the great Sea forefeeles winds, That both waies murmure.
1641. Milton, Reform., I. 13. Exact Reformation is not perfited at the first push, and those unweildy Times of Edward 6. may hold some Plea by this excuse.
a. 1699. J. Beaumont, Psyche, X. ccclxxxvii. He knows the heat of this unweildy Passion, And will allow it brave Immoderation.
† 5. Inexpert or awkward (in doing something); incapable, unpractical. Obs.
1666. J. Davies, Hist. Caribby Isles, 201. They are … so fearful and unwieldy in the handling of Arms, that they are easily reduc’d under subjection.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 27, ¶ 2. A Rake … is a poor unwieldy Wretch, that commits Faults out of the Redundance of his good Qualities.
