▪ I. † unˈevenly, a. Obs.
[un-1 7: cf. OE. unefenlic various, diverse.]
1. Incomparable.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 410 Þeo blisse þet he ȝerkeð ham..is unefenlich to alle worldes blissen. |
2. Unequal; ill-matched.
| c 1425 Eng. Conq. Irel. 30 Reymond & hys men—thogh they fewe wer, they wer nat feynt—with vneuenly host wenten out & assembled wyth ham. 1513 Douglas æneid xii. iv. 147 This ilk bargane Semyng..To be ane rycht onevynly [v.r. vneuinly] interprys. |
3. Uneven; not level.
| 1683 J. Reid Scots Gard'ner i. iii. 11 Though the ground be unevenly, yet you must hold the chain level. |
▪ II. unˈevenly, adv.
[un-1 11.]
† 1. Unfairly, unjustly. Obs.
| 1382 Wyclif Gen. xvi. 5 And Saray seide to Abram, Vneuenlie thow dost aȝens me. c 1400 Apol. Loll. 74 Scho may sey þat Sara seid to Abraam, Þu dost vneuenly aȝens me. |
2. In an uneven or unequal manner; not regularly, uniformly, or smoothly.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. viii. xvi. (1495) 143 b, Though it seme somtyme þat he meue vneuenly, swyfter other slower in comparison to other thynges. 1412–20 Lydg. Chron. Troy i. 2242 And þus sche stood in a Iupardye Of Loue and Schame, in maner of a traunce, Vn-euenly hanged in balaunce. 1557 Recorde Whetst. iij b, Euen nombers vneuenly, are suche nombers as maie bee diuided into 2 equalle partes, whiche are odde numbers. 1570 Billingsley Euclid ii. Introd. 60 In this booke are set forth the powers of lines, deuided euenly and vneuenly. 1638 Rawley tr. Bacon's Life & Death (1650) 60 The same Abundance unevenly placed, is in like manner hurtfull. 1668 H. More Div. Dial. i. xxxiv. (1713) 77 To harbour such unconceivable Notions, that lie so unevenly in every Man's Mind but your own. 1704 Dict. Rust. s.v. Waggons, Therefore the lesser the Wheel is, the heavier and more unevenly and jogging they go. 1839 H. T. De la Beche Rep. Geol. Cornwall, etc. xi. 318 An opening between the unevenly-fractured surfaces of a fissure. 1879 R. K. Douglas Confucianism iv. 95 A chair which..stands unevenly on its feet, is useless as a support. |
† 3. Not in equal proportion. Obs.—1
| c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. xii. 234 Oyldreggis watertemprid euenly..Or old vryne admyxt vneuenly With water partis too. |