[UN-1 8 b, c. Cf. OE. unʓeworht, MLG. ungewrocht, MDu. onghewrocht, -wracht, Du. ongewrocht.]
1. Not made, done, formed, performed, etc.; left in an unfinished or incomplete state; uncompleted, unperformed.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, x. (Matthew), 143. Sa þare warke lewit vnwrocht, Fore vndire-stand vthire þai na mocht.
c. 1450. Myrr. our Ladye, 268. She lefte no verteu vnwroughte in the worlde.
c. 1611. Chapman, Iliad, II. 117. The work that should have wreaked our wrong … lies unwrought.
1819. Shelley, Peter Bell 3rd, VII. xx. Love’s work was left unwrought—no brood … took wing.
2. Not formed or fashioned by being worked on; esp. of materials (as fabrics, stone, or metals): Still in a crude, raw, rude, or natural state; not worked into a finished condition; undressed; = RAW a. 2 a, ROUGH a. 16.
In very frequent use from c. 1600, esp. with stone, iron.
c. 1400. Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton, 1483), V. xiv. 107. God hymself is nature vnformed and vnwrought.
1455. Rolls of Parlt., V. 325/1. Never any thing of Silke … in eny wise wrought, but in rawe Silk allone unwrought.
1463–4. Act 19 Hen. VII., c. 21. All other maner of Sylkes,… rawe or unwrought.
1503. [see RAW a. 2 a].
1545. Rates of Custom, b i b. Enkyll the pounde vnwrought, iiii d.
1548. Coverdale, etc., Erasm. Par. 1 Cor. viii. 23 b. An other vnsquared piece of tymber, or an vnwrought stone.
1571. Golding, Calvin on Ps. lxxiv. 5. The unwrought and rough timber-logs.
1601. [see ROUGH a. 16].
1616. W. Browne, Brit. Past., II. iv. 587. Brests softer farre than tufts of unwrought silke.
1673. Temple, Obs. United Prov., Wks. 1720, I. 66. We then carry’d out our Wools unwrought.
1719. W. Wood, Surv. Trade, 85. Every Country which … returns us unwrought Materials to be manufactured here.
1773. Hawkesworth, Cook’s Voy., I. v. II. 57. We saw also some pieces of glass and flint among them unwrought.
1799. Hull Advertiser, 1 May, 1/1. A large quantity of unwrought Alum-Rock.
1827. G. Higgins, Celtic Druids, 212. Very large unwrought stones.
1841. Elphinstone, Hist. India, I. 371. The cocoa-nut tree and the bamboo furnish all the materials for construction unwrought.
1896. Daily News, 11 Feb., 2/4. Unwrought steel and cast and wrought iron.
fig. 1641. Milton, Ch. Govt., II. Concl. 62. Men … whose unchast’ned and unwrought minds [were] never yet … subdu’d under the true lore of religion.
1886. McNeill, Sir Tristrem, p. xx. After having lain unwrought into any new forms for a couple of centuries, the story [etc.].
b. Not developed or worked out.
1877. Miss Yonge, Cameos, III. x. 84. He must choose … whether to continue the art that should diffuse knowledge for good or evil, or leave it unwrought out.
3. a. Of a mine, etc.: Not worked. Also in fig. context.
1669. Earl Sandwich, trans. Barba’s Art of Metals, I. (1674), 7 [The mine] lay unwrought for four or five years.
1670. Pettus, Fodinæ Reg., 86. Where he findeth a Meer unwrought, he shall score on the Spindle one score.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., II. 209. This island abounds with iron, lead, and copper mines, though unwrought.
1839. De la Beche, Rep. Geol. Cornwall, etc., xv. 617. In 1778, also, these iron-lodes still remained unwrought.
1863. Hawthorne, Our Old Home, II. 15. Treasures of wit and wisdom … still in the unwrought mines of human thought.
b. Of coal: Not hewn out, excavated, or won.
1789. J. Williams, Min. Kingd., I. 8. The whole coal wall, that is the unwrought coal.
1883. [see UNWORKED 2 b].
c. Of land: Not tilled, labored, or cultivated.
1600. Fairfax, Tasso, I. lxiv. Or proue at least … Their harts were fertill land, although vnwrought.
1876–. in north. dialect and Sc. use.
4. Not employed in, not subjected or inured to, labor. rare.
1550. W. Lane, in Froude, Hist. Eng. (1860), V. 285. Out of the decay of tillage springeth the scarcity of corn and the people unwrought.
1628. May, Virg. Georg., II. 55. Then make strong hedges to keep cattell out, Young beasts especially, and yet unwrought.
