U
ubblye; see [obley].
uberous, fertile. Middleton, Mayor of Queenb. ii. 3 (Hengist). L. ūber, fertile.
ugsome, frightful, horrible. Surrey, tr. of Aeneid, ii, l. 1007. Hence ugsomnes, terror, ‘The horrour and ugsomenes of death’, Latimer, Sermons (ed. Arber, p. 185). These words are still in common prov. use with these meanings in the north country, see EDD. (s.v. Ug). ME. ugsom, frightful (Dest. Troy, 877).
ulen-spiegel; see [owl-spiegle].
umbecast, to consider, ponder. Morte Arthur, leaf 382, back, 25; bk. xviii, c. 21. ME. umbecast; ‘In his hert can umbecast’ (Barbour’s Bruce, v. 552). The prefix is umbe, OE. ymbe, around (see Wars Alex., Glossary).
umbered, embrowned with umber. Hen. V, v, Chorus, 9.
umberere; see [umbriere].
umbles, the ‘numbles’, the entrails of a deer; ‘The umblis of venyson’, Skelton, Garl. of Laurell, 1240; Holinshed, i. 204 (Nares); fig. used for a man’s bodily parts, ‘Faith, a good well-set fellow, if his spirit Be answerable to his umbles’, Middleton, Roaring Girl, iii. 1 (Trapdoor). See [numbles].
umbrana, a delicate fish. Beaumont and Fl., Woman-hater, i. 1 (Duke). Nares says: ‘The name of a fish, called also umbra; in English, umber or grayling; the Salmo thymullus of Linnaeus.’ Ital. ombrina, ‘an ombre or grailing’ (Baretti), cp. F. ‘umbre, an ombre, or grayling’ (Cotgr.). Mod. L. umbrae, ‘tymalli, pisces Hibernis familiares’ (Ducange). Cp. σκίαινα, the name of a sea-fish (Aristotle).
umbratical, secluded; applied to teachers who wrote in their own studies; ‘The umbratical doctors’, B. Jonson, Discoveries, lvii. L. umbraticus doctor, a private tutor (Petronius).
umbratil, belonging to the shade; private, secluded. B. Jonson, Magnetic Lady, iii. 3 (Compass). L. umbratilis vita, a retired, contemplative life (Cicero).
umbriere, the movable visor of a helmet. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 1. 42; iv. 4. 44; spelt umberere, Morte Arthur, leaf 169, back, 7; bk. viii, ch. 41 (end). O. Prov. ombriera, that which gives shade, a tree giving shade (Levy), deriv. of ombra, shade, L. umbra.
un-, negative prefix. Often used where mod. E. has in-; as in un-constant, un-firm, un-ordinate; all in Shakespeare. So also North has un-honest for dis-honest, un-possible, un-satiable.
unavoided, irrefutable. Middleton, A Fair Quarrel, v. 1 (Physician).
unbe, to cease to be. Nero, iii. 3. 26.
unbid, without a prayer. Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 54.
unbolted, unsifted, coarse. King Lear, ii. 2. 71. Cp. bolt, ‘to sift flour through a sieve or fine cloth’, in prov. use in the north down to Derbyshire. OF. buleter, to sift (Hatzfeld, s.v. Bluter).
uncandied, dissolved out of a candied or solid condition, Two Noble Kinsmen, i. 1. 115. Cp. discandy, Ant. and Cl. iv. 12. 22.
uncape; ‘I warrant we’ll unkennel the fox. Let me stop this way first—so now uncape,’ Merry Wives, iii. 3. 176. Meaning doubtful. Here are three conjectures: (1) to uncouple (hounds) so Schmidt; (2) to dig out the fox when earthed (Warburton); (3) to turn the fox out of the bag (Steevens).
uncase, to undress. L. L. L. v. 2. 707; Tam. Shrew, i. 1. 212.
uncharge, to acquit from a charge. Hamlet, iv. 7. 68. Uncharged, pp., unassailed, Timon, v. 4. 55.
unchary, not careful, heedless. Twelfth Nt. iii. 4. 222.
unclew, to unwind from a clew; hence, fig. to undo, to ruin. Timon, i. 1. 168.
uncoined, not minted; hence, not used as common coin, unconventional, simple. Hen. V, v. 2. 161.
uncouth, unknown, unusual, strange, Spenser, F. Q. i. 11. 20; iii. 4. 51; Shep. Kal., Sept., 60. Still in prov. use in this sense in the north country (EDD.). ME. uncouth, strange, uncommon (Chaucer, C. T. A. 2497). OE. uncūð, unknown, strange (John x. 5).
underfong, to undertake a work, labour, task; ‘And looser songs of love to underfong’, Spenser, Shep. Kal., Nov., 22; id., June, 103; to receive, to take surreptitiously, F. Q. v. 2. 7; underfang, Mirror for Mag., Morindus, st. 6. ME. underfongyn, ‘suscipio’ (Prompt.). OE. underfōn, to receive, to undertake a task (B. T.); pp. underfangen. See Dict. M. and S. (s.vv. Underfon and Underfangen).
undergo, to experience; to endure with firmness, Cymbeline, iii. 2. 7; to suffer, put up with, 2 Hen. IV, ii. 1. 133; to partake of, to enjoy, Meas. for M. i. 1. 24; to take upon oneself, to undertake, Two Gent. v. 4. 42; to be subject to, ‘Claudio undergoes my challenge’, Much Ado, v. 2. 57.
undermeal, a slight afternoon meal. B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, iv. 1 (Cokes). See EDD. (s.v. Undern). ME. undermele, ‘post meridies’ (Prompt. EETS. 508); undermele tyde (Trevisa, tr. Higden, v. 373); undermeles, afternoons (Chaucer, C. T. D. 875); undern + mele; undern, the time between noon and sunset. OE. undern. See Dict. M. and S. (s.v. Undern).
underset, to support, Bacon, Henry VII (ed. Lumby, p. 146). ME. undersettyn or underschoryn, ‘fulcio, suffulcio’ (Prompt. EETS.).
undertaker, a contractor; ‘Let not the government of the plantation depend upon too many . . . undertakers in the country that planteth’, Bacon, Essay 33; one who takes upon himself a task or business, Twelfth Nt. iii. 4. 349; Two Noble Kinsmen, i. 1. 78. Cp. Othello, iv. 1. 224.
undertime, afternoon, Spenser, F. Q. iii. 7. 13. For undern-time. See [undermeal].
underwork, to work secretly against any one; underwrought, pp., undermined. King John, ii. 1. 96.
uneath, unneath, scarcely, hardly, with difficulty. Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 38; i. 10. 31; i. 11. 4; 2 Hen. VI, ii. 4. 8; unnethes, Shep. Kal., Jan., 6. ME. uneth (unneth) scarcely (Wars Alex. 2060, 4801), also unethes (unnethes), id., 4078, 4437; also in Chaucer, see Glossary. OE. unēaðe (Gen. xxvii. 30). See Dict. M. and S. (s v. Uneaðe).
unequal, unjust. B. Jonson, Volpone, iii. 1 (Mosca); Massinger, Emp. of the East, v. 2 (Theodosius); Ant. and Cl. ii. 5. 101; 2 Hen. IV, iv. 1. 102; Bible, Ezek. xviii. 25 (unequal = Vulg. pravus). See Trench, Sel. Gl. See [equal].
unexpressive, inexpressible. As You Like it, iii. 2. 10; Milton, Christ’s Nativity, 116; Lycidas, 176.
unfolding; ‘The unfolding star calls up the shepherd’, Meas. for M. iv. 2. 218. The star that by its rising tells the shepherd that it is time to release the sheep from the fold. [So Collins in his Ode to Evening, 72, refers to the evening-star as the folding-star, the star rising at folding time: ‘When thy folding-star arising shows His paly circlet’; cp. Shelley in Hellas, 221, ‘The powers of earth and air Fled from the folding star of Bethlehem’.]
unhappily, unfortunately, with regret be it said. Meas. for M. i. 2. 160; mischievously, with evil result, Lucrece, 8; evilly, King Lear, i. 2. 157; Sonnet 66.
unhappy, mischievous, evil, trickish, All’s Well, iv. 5. 66; ill-omened, Cymb. v. 5. 153; wicked, Peele, Battle of Alcazar, Prologue; waggish, Fletcher, Loyal Subject, ii. 2 (Olympia); unfortunate, Spenser, F. Q. i. 2. 22.
unhatched, unhacked, not blunted by blows. Twelfth Nt. iii. 4. 257; unhatcht, unmarked, Beaumont and Fl., Knight of Malta, ii. 5 (Oriana). See [hatched].
unhatched, not hatched, not yet brought to light. Hamlet, i. 3. 65; Othello, iii. 4. 141.
unhele, unheale, to uncover. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 64; iv. 5. 10; Marston, Malcontent, ii. 2 (near end). See [heal] (to cover).
unherse, to take down (arms) from the ‘hearse’, or temporary stand on which they were placed; part of the ceremony of baffling. Spenser, F. Q. v. 3. 37. See [hearse].
unhouseled, without having received the last sacrament. Hamlet, i. 5. 77. Deriv. of ME. housel (P. Plowman, B. xix. 390); OE. hūsl (hūsel), the consecrated bread in the Eucharist (Ælfric), Goth. hunsl, ‘sacrificium’ (Matt. ix. 13). See Dict. (s.v. Housel).
unicorn’s horn, a supposed antidote to poison. B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Humour, v. 4 (Carlo). ‘This beast in countenance is cruell and wilde, and yet notwithstanding mixed with a certaine sweetnes or amiablenes. His horne is of a merveilous greate force and vertue against Venome and poyson,’ Blundevile, Exercises; see Bible Word-Book (s.v. Unicorn).
unimproved, not yet used for advantage. Hamlet, i. 1. 96. See [improve].
union, a fine pearl. Hamlet, v. 2. 283; Kyd, Soliman, ii. 1. 231. Anglo-F. union (Bestiary, 1482); see Rough List; L. unio, a single pearl of a large size.
unjust, dishonest. 1 Hen. IV, iv. 2. 30; Bible, Luke xvi. 8.
unkind, unnatural. Spenser, F. Q., iii. 2. 43; King Lear, iii. 4. 73.
unlast, pp. of unlace, to unfasten. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 1. 39.
unlefull, forbidden. Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 61. See [lefull].
unlived, deprived of life. Lucrece, 1754.
unmanned, unaccustomed to man, untamed, as a hawk. B. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, iii. 2 (Karol); Romeo, iii. 2. 14.
unmorris’d, not dressed like a morris-dancer. Fletcher, Women Pleased, iv. 1 (Soto).
un-napt, not provided with nap, as cloth; hence, unfurnished, unprovided. Beaumont and Fl., Knt. of Malta, i. 1. 17.
unnethes; see [uneath].
unowed, unowned. King John, iv. 3. 147.
unperegall, unequalled. Marston, Dutch Courtezan, iv. 5 (end). See [peregall].
unpregnant, unapt for business. Meas. for M. iv. 4. 23; unpregnant of, having no intelligent sense of, Hamlet, ii. 2. 595. See [pregnant] (2).
unqueat, unquiet, disquieted. Warner, Alb. England, bk. iii, ch. 16, st. 65. See [queat].
unquestionable, averse from conversation, uncommunicative. As You Like It, iii. 2. 393.
unquod, unusual, strange; ‘Vnquod manor of crueltee’, Udall, tr. of Apoph., Augustus, § 59. A contaminated form, see EDD. (s.vv. Uncouth and Unkid). In unkid the -kid = OE. (ge)cȳdd, contraction of cȳðed, pp. of cȳðan, to make known. See [uncouth].
unready, not fully dressed. 1 Hen. VI, ii. 1. 39; to make unready, to undress, Fletcher, Island Princess, iii. 8. 13. See Nares.
unrecovered, irrecoverable. Chapman, Iliad ix, 247.
unreduct, unreduced. Middleton, Family of Love, iii. 1 (Gerardine).
unreproved, irreproachable. Chapman, Iliad i, 87; ii, 785.
unrespective, devoid of consideration, unthinking. Richard III, iv. 2. 29; used at random, without consideration, Tr. and Cr. ii. 2. 71.
unrude, rough, violent. B. Jonson, Every Man out of Hum., iv. 1. Cp. the obs. Scottish unrude (hideous, horrible, vile), given in Jamieson (EDD.). ME. unrüde (Stratmann); unride (unrode), cruel, rough, wanton (Wars Alex.). OE. ungerȳde, rough, violent, cp. ungerȳdu, ‘aspera’ (Luke iii. 5).
unseeled, not fastened up, opened; applied to the eyes. B. Jonson, Catiline, i. 1 (Cethegus). See [seel].
unshed, not carefully parted; said of hair. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 7. 40. ‘To shed’ is in prov. use in the north country for making a parting in the hair of the head (EDD.). ME. scheden, to separate, to part the hair; schede, the parting of a man’s hair (Cath. Angl.); OE. scēada, the top of the head, parting of the hair, scēadan, to part, to make a line of separation between (B. T.). See Dict. M. and S. (s.v. Scheden).
unstanched, (of thirst) insatiable. 1 Hen. VI, ii. 6. 83.
unsuffered, insufferable. Chapman, Iliad iii, 6.
untappice, to come out of hiding; ‘Now I’ll untappice’, Massinger, A Very Woman, iii. 5 (Antonio). See [tappish].
untempering, not having a modifying or softening influence. Hen. V, v. 2. 241; temper, to fashion, mould, Richard III, i. 1. 65; Titus, iv. 4. 109. L. temperare, to temper, moderate, qualify.
untented, not to be probed by a ‘tent’; hence, incurable. King Lear, i. 4. 322. See Dict. (s.v. Tent, 2).
untermed, interminable, endless. Ford, Love’s Sacrifice, iii. 3 (Duke).
untewed, not dressed like hemp; hence, not combed out, said of a sheep’s fleece. Lyly, Endimion, ii. 2 (Sir Tophas). See [tew] (2).
unthrift, prodigal, wasteful. Timon, iv. 3. 311; a prodigal, good-for-nothing person, Richard II, ii. 3. 122. Cp. the Yorks. expression, ‘He’s a desperate unthrift’, for a thriftless squanderer, a good-for-nothing person (EDD.).
untraded, not commonly used. Tr. and Cr. iv. 5. 178. See [trade].
untrussed, partially undressed, with the laces of his hose untied. Middleton, The Witch, v. 1. 2.
untwight, untouched. Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, i. 345; spelt ontwight (L. incolumis), id., ii. 88. See [twight] (2).
unvalued, inestimable, invaluable. Richard III, i. 4. 27; Fletcher, Valentinian, i. 2. 19.
unwappered, not jaded, not worn out. Two Noble Kinsmen, v. 4. 10. ‘Wappered’ is a Glouc. word, ‘Thy horse is wappered out’, i.e. tired out, quite jaded (EDD.).
unwares, unawares, unexpectedly. Spenser, F. Q. i. 5. 18; undesignedly, 3 Hen. VI, ii. 5. 62; at unwares, unexpectedly, Gascoigne (ed. Hazlitt, i. 434).
unwary, unexpected. Spenser, F. Q. i. 12. 25. The usual ME. form was unwar; as in Chaucer, used as an adj. unexpected, and as an adv. unexpectedly.
unwist, unknown, unsuspected. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 2. 26. ME. unwist, unknown (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. ii. 1294).
unwreaken, unavenged. Tancred and Gismunda, v. 2 (Gismunda); in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vii. 86. ME. wreken, pp. avenged; wreke, to avenge (Chaucer), OE. wrecan, pp. ge)wrecen.
upbraid, a reproach; ‘He . . . with his mind had known Much better the upbraids of men’, Chapman, tr. of Iliad, vi. 389. ME. upbreyd, a reproach (Handlyng Synne, 5843). See Dict.
upbray, to ‘upbraid’, reproach. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 4. 45. In prov. use in north Yorks. (EDD.).
uphild, pp. upheld. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 11. 21.
uppen, to ‘open’, reveal, relate. Golding, Metam. xii. 162; fol. 145, l. 5 (1603). Cp. the E. Anglian expressions, ‘You didn’t uppen it, did ye? Be sewer don’t uppen it ta nobody’, where ‘uppen’ means to disclose, reveal (EDD.).
upright men, ‘vagabonds who were strong enough to be chiefs or magistrates among their fellows; one of the twenty-four orders of beggars’ (Aydelotte, p. 27). Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii. 1. 2; Harman, Caveat (New Shaks. Soc, p. 34).
upsey, in the following combinations: Upsey-Dutch, in the Dutch fashion, B. Jonson, Alchemist, iv. 4 (Subtle), whence the phr. to drink upsey Dutch, to drink to excess, Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, iii 1. 3; Upsey-Freeze, in the Frisian fashion, The Shrift (Nares); Dekker, Belman; id., Seven Deadly Sins (Nares); Upsey-English, in the English way, Beaumont and Fl., Beggar’s Bush, iv. 4 (Higgen). [Cp. ‘Drink upsees out’, in the Soldier’s Song in Scott’s Lady of the Lake, vi. 5.] Du. op zyn: op zyn Engelsch, after the English fashion (Sewel, s.v. Op). Du. zyn (now spelt zin) = G. sinn, sense, meaning.
upsitting, a festival when a woman sits up after her confinement. Westward Ho, v. 1 (Mist. Tenterhook); Brome, Jovial Crew, ii. 1 (Oldrents); Beaumont and Fl., Woman-hater, ii. 1 (Valere); ‘Relevailles d’une femme, the upsitting’, Cotgrave.
upspring, the name of a dance. Hamlet, i. 4. 9; ‘An Almain and an upspring’, Chapman, Alphonsus, iii. 1 (Bohemia).
ure, operation, action. Esp. in phr. to put in ure, Ferrex and Porrex, iv. 2 (Porrex); Greene. Alphonsus, Prol. (Venus). OF. ure, eure, L. opera, work, action. See Dict.
ure, destiny; ‘Wherefore he hathe good ure, That can hymselfe assure Howe fortune wyll endure,’ Skelton, Colyn Cloute, 1003. Hence, as vb. to be ured, to be invested with as by a decree of fate, ‘Men nowe a dayes so unhappely be uryd’, Skelton, Magnyfycence, 6. See [eure].
usance, interest paid for money, Merch. Ven. i. 3. 46. A rare meaning of the word; it gen. means the same as ‘usage’. ME. usaunce, custom (Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 683). Norm. F. usance, ‘usage, mise en pratique, exercice d’un pouvoir’ (Moisy).
uses, practical applications of doctrines; a term affected by the Puritans, and ridiculed by the dramatists. B. Jonson, Magnetic Lady, iii. 1 (Needle); Massinger, Emp. of the East, iii. 2 (Flaccilla).
utas, the period of eight days beginning with a festival; hence, merriment, festivity; ‘Utas of a feest, octaves’, Palsgrave; ‘Old utis’ (i.e. high merriment), 2 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 22. ‘Utis’ still survives in prov. use in Worc. in the sense of noise, din: ‘The hounds kicked up a deuce of a utis’ (EDD.). Anglo-F. utaves (Rough List); L. octava (dies), eighth day; for ecclesiastical use see Dict. Christ. Antiq. (s.v. Octave). See Dict. (s.v. Utas).
utter, to put forth, put in circulation, offer for sale, put on the market. L. L. L. ii. 1. 16; Romeo, v. 1. 67; Wint. Tale, iv. 4. 330; Fletcher, Captain, ii. 1 (Jacomo); Sir T. Elyot, Governour, iii. 30, § 2; Stanyhurst, tr. Aeneid, i. 448. Hence utterance, sale, ‘There is no such speedie utterance of rabbets’, Harrison, Descr. of England, bk. ii, ch. 19 (ed. Furnivall, p. 304).
utterance: in phr. to the utterance, to the last extremity, Macbeth, iii. 1. 72. F. à outrance; combat à outrance, a fight to the death; deriv. of outre, L. ultra, beyond.