unˈchild, v.
[un-2 4 and 6 b.]
1. To deprive of children; to make childless.
| 1605 Earl Stirling Alexandr. Trag. iv. ii, First orphan'd, widdow'd, and vnchilded last, A daughter, wife, and mother all accurst. 1607 Shakes. Cor. v. vi. 153 Though in this City hee Hath widdowed and vnchilded many a one. 1791 Cowper Iliad xxii. 48 He hath unchilded me of many a son. |
2. To deprive of the status of a child or of the qualities peculiar to childhood.
| 1615 Bp. Hall Contempl., O.T. x. iii, Whosoever now dispose of themselves without their parents, they do wilfully unchild themselves. 1864 Browning Mr. Sludge Wks. 1888 VII. 230 In brief, she may unchild the child I am. |
Hence unˈchilding ppl. a.
| 1876 G. M. Hopkins Wreck of Deutschland xiii, in Poems (1967) 55 Wiry and white-fiery and whirlwind-swivelled snow Spins to the widow-making unchilding unfathering deeps. |