unawares, adv.
(ʌnəˈwɛəz)
Also 6 unawarres, 7 unawars.
[f. as prec. + -s1. Cf. uniwares, unwares advs.]
1. a. Without being aware; unconsciously; inadvertently; unintentionally. Cf. unaware adv. 1.
| 1535 Coverdale Josh. xx. 5 They shall not delyuer the deedslayer in to his handes, for so moch as he hath slayne his neghboure vnawarres. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. ii. vi. 35 b, If any drinke of it vnawares. 1641 J. Jackson True Evang. T. i. 70 Lactantius was slipt unawares into this opinion, and S. Ierome doth..animadvert him for it. 1699 R. L'Estrange Erasm. Colloq. (1725) 276 Money might lie upon the Ground, and they tread upon it unawares. 1726 Berkeley Let. Wks. 1871 IV. 139, I have unawares run into this long account. 1787 Bentham Def. Usury xiii. 184 So great a master having fallen unawares into an error. 1832 H. Martineau Weal & Woe ix. 133, I might have spoken unawares, with authority. 1865 Kingsley Heroes ii. ii, I will tell you, lest you rush upon your ruin unawares. |
b. Without being noticed; unobserved.
| 1667 Dryden & Davenant Tempest iii. ii, I fear'd the pleasing form of this young man Might unawares possess your tender breast. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. iii. i. §5 By which we may give some kind of guess,..how Nature, even in the naming of Things, unawares suggested to Men the Originals and Principles of all their Knowledg. 1718 Prior Solomon Pref. ¶8 Age steals upon Us unawares. 1796 F. Burney Camilla V. 531 [In] confidence unlimited..hours might have passed, unnumbered and unawares. |
2. Without intimation or warning (given or received); unexpectedly, suddenly.
| 1535 Coverdale Ps. xxxiv. 8 Let a sodane destruccion come vpon him vnawarres. 1584 R. Scot Discov. Witchcr. ii. ii. (1886) 16 Witches must be examined as suddenlie, and as unawares as is possible. 1657 Trapp Comm. Job. i. 19 No guest cometh unawares to him who keeps a constant table. 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 932 He..meets A vast vacuitie: all unawares Fluttring his pennons vain plumb down he drops. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 504 ¶1 Commend me also to those who..do not give up their Pretensions to Mirth. These can slap you on the Back unawares. 1796 F. Burney Camilla II. 353 He had just surprised her in tears, by coming upon her unawares. 1812 Byron Ch. Har. ii. lxxi, He that unawares had there ygazed With gaping wonderment had stared aghast. 1869 Freeman Norm. Conq. vii. (1877) II. 63 The King, accompanied by the three great Earls, came unawares upon the Lady. |
b. In the phr. to take (or catch)..unawares.
| 1593 Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, iv. viii. 63 Away betimes, before his forces ioyne, And take the great-growne Traytor vnawares. 1791 Burns Tam O'Shanter 86 Glowring round wi' prudent cares, Lest bogles catch him unawares. 1849 Lytton Caxtons i. iii, He seemed incapable of acting for himself; he,..if taken unawares, was pretty sure to be the dupe. 1865 Kingsley Herew. ii, The famous soubriquet of ‘Wake’; the Watcher, whom no man ever took unawares. |
3. In quasi-adj. use: † a. Ignorant, not aware, of something. Obs.—1 (Cf. unaware a. 1.)
| 1548 Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. Acts 36 b, But thou, in persecucion of my disciples,..doest persecute me also, vnawares thereof. 1567 J. Maplet Gr. Forest 86 b, He, as they are vnawares of him, sodainely snatcheth vp with his Pawes certaine of them. |
b. Unknown, unperceived, unrealized. Const. to or † of (oneself or another).
| 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. John 94 b, Neyther is it vnawares to me that ye shall not fully vnderstande these thynges whiche I nowe speake. 1584 Leycesters Commonw. (1641) 36 They sent on day (unawares to her) for Doctor Bayly, and desired him to perswade her to take some little potion at his hands. 1635 J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Banish'd Virg. 140, I submissively kneeling down, and kissing his [hand] unawares of him. 1643 E. Symmons Loyal Subjects Belief 75 It is not wisdome for any man..to trust himself in a suspicious path, lest unawares to himselfe and them, he be on the sudden in mediis malis. 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) VI. 70 Unawares to myself, I had moved onward. 1857 Kingsley Two Y. Ago I. 144 She found..that she watched, almost unawares to herself, for his passing. 1874 S. Wilberforce Ess. II. 15 The very features of men..assume, unawares to themselves, something of unnatural severity. |
4. In phr. at unawares: a. = sense 2.
| 1564 Haward Eutropius iii. 31 Anniball assaultinge Eneus Fulvius at unawares beinge then in Italye slue him. 1593 Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, iv. iv. 9 He is taken prisoner, Either betrayd by falshood of his Guard, Or by his Foe surpriz'd at vnawares. 1622 R. Hawkins Voy. S. Sea (1847) 90 We used all our best endevours to take them at unawares, yet comming within fortie paces, we were discovered. a 1667 Cowley Ess. in Verse & Pr., Avarice, He..Must run the danger..of the rapid stream it self which may At unawares bear him perhaps away. 1737 Whiston Josephus, Antiq. ii. x. §2 Serpents..some of which..fly in the air, and so come upon men at unawares. a 1774 Goldsm. Hist. Greece II. 225 Darius fearing he should be attacked at unawares,..obliged his soldiers to coutinue the whole night under arms. 1822 Scott Halidon Hill i. ii. 167 You might slay him At unawares before he saw your blade drawn. 1868 Nettleship Ess. Browning i. 40 It is like coming to the edge of a precipice at unawares. |
b. = sense 1 a and 1 b.
| 1595 Danett tr. Comines (1614) 129 The King feared especially..least some word should escape him at vnawares. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 570 A Roman, at vnawares hauing killed a Cat, could not..be detained from their butcherly furie. 1679 C. Nesse Antichrist 213 It stole into the world..unsensibly and at unawares. 1853 C. M. Yonge Heir of Redclyffe xv, All this was told at unawares, drawn forth by different questions and remarks, till Guy inquired how much ‘it would take to give them a start?’ 1870 C. Rossetti Poems (1904) 65 When friend shall no more envy friend Nor vex his friend at unawares. |