unˈfele, a. Obs. exc. dial.
Forms: 1–2 unfæle (2 unn-), 3 unfeale; 2–3 unfele (vn-), 3–4 unvele (vnuele, onvele), 9 Sc. and north. onfeel, unfeil.
[OE. unfǽle, f. un- un-1 + fǽle good, fele a.2]
Bad, evil, wicked; wretched, miserable, unpleasant.
| a 900 Genesis 723 Hit wæs þeah..menniscra morð, þæt hie to mete dædon ofet unfæle. c 1000 ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 108 Satiri, uel fauni,..unfæle men, wude⁓wasan, unfæle wihtu. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Mark vi. 49 Hi wendon þæt hit unfæle [c 1160 un-fele] gast wære. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. II. 79 Ȝif þe unfele man his wille folȝeð and..teð him to unwrenches. c 1205 Lay. 22018 Neh þere sæ stronde is a mære swiðe muchel; þat water is un-fæle. a 1250 Owl & Night. 1003 Þat lond is grislich & vnuele. Ibid. 1381 He is vnvele and forbroyde. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 468/231 Þe sarazins onvele weren fulle of nyþe and hete. 13.. R. Gloucester's Chron. (Rolls) App. G. 39 Þe moder his þrote carf, þo was heo vnfele. c 1400 Laud Troy Bk. 8830 The while that he hadde his hele, Ther he sclow Gregeys as vn-vele. 1825 Jamieson, Onfeel,..unpleasant, disagreeable, implying the idea of coarseness or roughness; as, ‘an onfeel day’, ‘onfeel words’, &c. Teviotd. 1894 Northumberland Gloss. 756. |