1. Not wished, desired, or asked for; undesired.
1583. Babington, Commandm., To Gentl. of Glam. What proofe this latter hath, and what vnwished matter to furnish out a larger complaint, I spare to speake.
1621. Quarles, Div. Poems, Esther, i. In lavish Cups … Came wine unwisht.
1626. W. Bosworth, Arcadus & Sepha, II. 790. Those griefs … never ceas’d to move A desp’rate end, for that unwisht mischance Still gnawing on my soul.
1725. Pope, Odyss., IV. 113. Heaping unwish’d wealth, I distant roam.
1730. Thomson, Winter, 53. Nor is the night unwish’d; while vital heat,… and joy, the dubious day forsake.
1757. Akenside, Pleas. Imag., II. 401. Not poison, nor sharp fire,… Were at that season an unwished exchange.
1855. Poultry Chron., III. 338/2. The greatest gain will often, unsought and unwished, attend the first-class.
b. Unwanted, unwelcome, unpleasing.
a. 1586. Sidney, Arcadia, I. xiv. Her unwished presence gave my tale a conclusion, before it had a beginning.
1590. Shaks., Mids. N., I. i. 81. His Lordship, whose vnwished yoake, My soule consents not to giue soueraignty.
1697. Congreve, Mourn. Bride, III. viii. You seem much surprised At … [a] return so … unexpected!… And so unwish’d, unwanted too, it seems.
2. Unwished-for, = prec.
1617. Minsheu, s.v., Un-wished for.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., II. 71. Humide vapours … accompany the unwished-for-bed of my repose.
1708. J. Philips, Cyder, II. 155. When … unwish’t for Rain Descended.
1807. E. S. Barrett, Rising Sun, III. 169. Why … do you thus force your unasked—your unwished-for counsels upon me?
