▪ I. unˈreason, n.
[un-1 12.]
† 1. Unreasonable action or intention; injustice, impropriety. Obs.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 3747 He has me don oft vn-resun And no[w] me reft mi benisun. 13.. Metr. Hom. (Vern. MS.) in Archiv Neu. Spr. LVII. 303 Wiþ muchel wrong and vn⁓resoun Dost þow me þis tresoun. c 1400 Pilgr. Sowle iv. ix. (Caxton) 62 It semeth me vnreson..that he that nought ne oweth shal payen for the dettour hym seluen. c 1500 Priests of Peblis 141 And that ȝe think vnressoun or wrang, Wee al and sundrie sings the samin sang. 1597 Skene De Verb. Sign. s.v. Tort, Tort, et non reason, vn-reason, wrang, and vnlaw. 1609 [see unlaw n. 1]. |
† 2. Abbot (of) Unreason, a mock personage elected as the leading character in certain popular revellings formerly in Scottish use. Obs.
| 1496 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. I. 270 To Gilberte Brade,..for spilling of his hous in Striuiling be the Abbot of Vn⁓resoun, x.li. 1555 Sc. Acts Parlt., Mary (1814) II. 500/1 It is..ordanit that in all tymes cumming na maner of persoun be chosin, Robert Hude nor Lytill Johne, Abbot of vnressoun, Quenis of Maij nor vtherwyse. a 1572 Knox Hist. Ref. Wks. 1846 I. 40 The same Frear maid ane uther sermoun of the Abbote Unreassone, unto whome..he compared the prelattis of that age. [1820 Scott Abbot xiv, and note.] |
3. Absence of reason; indisposition or inability to act or think rationally or reasonably. (Common from c 1850.)
| 1827 Carlyle Misc. (1840) I. 47 Other forms of Unreason have taken its place. 1847 Helps Friends in C. i. vii. 115 Many a woman is brought up in unreason and self-will from these causes that he has given. 1861 M. Arnold Pop. Educ. France 174 A system which, to the loud blasts of unreason and intolerance, sends forth no certain counterblast. 1883 Pattison Mem. (1885) 2 All my energy was directed..to free myself from the bondage of unreason. |
b. That which is contrary to, or devoid of, reason.
| 1847 Helps Friends in C. i. vii. 114 Women may talk the greatest unreason out of doors, and nobody kindly informs them that it is unreason. 1865 J. Grote Explor. Philos. i. 210 That unreason or nonsense which it is the business of the higher part to convert into knowledge. |
▪ II. unˈreason, v.
[un-2 4, 3.]
1. trans. (and refl). To deprive of reason.
| a 1676 Hale Prim. Orig. Man. (1677) 343 We shall have such Solutions as must make us first unreason and unman our selves, before we can subscribe to them. 1755 Smollett Quix. i. i. I. 2 The unreasonable usage..so unreasons my reason, that I have reason to complain of your beauty. 1829 T. Hook Bank to Barnes 40 Were I to tease on, It would nearly unreason your reason. |
2. To disprove, refute.
| 1661 R. L'Estrange State Divinity 25 Their Reasons I have un-Reason'd already. a 1716 South Serm. (1744) XI. 257 However a man may for a while..seem to himself to unreason the equity of God's proceedings; yet [etc.]. |