[UN-1 7.]
1. Not befitting or characteristic of a woman; inappropriate to womanly character.
App. disused or rare in the 17th and 18th c.; cf. next.
1529. More, Dyaloge, II. Wks. 198/2. The women folowing the crosse wyth many an vnwomanly songe.
1589. Cooper, Admon., 39. The vilenesse of her tongue, and other vnwomanly behauiour.
1592. Daniel, Compl. Rosamond, lxxxiii. Offring me most vnwomanly disgrace.
1608. W. Crashaw, Newes fr. Italy, xxi. 54. This monstrous vnkindnes and unwomanly answer pierced his heart.
1821. Scott, Kenilw., xli. She appealed to Foster … not to permit her to be treated with unwomanly violence.
1843. Hood, Song of Shirt, i. A woman … in unwomanly rags.
1865. ‘Annie Thomas,’ Theo Leigh, xl. A decrepid old woman … with hard, bony, unwomanly shoulders, displayed in a hard, bold, unwomanly manner.
1896. ‘H. S. Merriman,’ Sowers, xix. It was … the face of a womanly woman engaged in unwomanly work.
2. Lacking the qualities or traits of a woman.
1866. G. Macdonald, Ann. Q. Neighb., vi. The most hurtful of all beings,… an unwomanly woman.
1886. Chr. Herald (N. Y.) IX. 223. The woman of Samaria was hard, impure, and unwomanly.
