unwieldy, a.
(ʌnˈwiːldɪ)
Forms: 5–7 unweldy, 6 -ye, 6–7 -ie; 5–7 unweeldy, 5 -weeldi, 6 -ie; 6–7 unwealdy, -ie; 6–8 (9) unweildy (6 -weyldy, Sc. wnveildy), 6–7 -ie; 6– unwieldy, 7 -ie; 6–7 unwildy, 6 -wildie, Sc. -wyldy. (Also 5–7 vn-, 5–6 on-.)
[un-1 7, 5 b + wieldy a. Cf. the early unwield a. and unwieldly a.]
† 1. Of persons, the body, etc.: Lacking strength; weak, impotent; feeble, infirm. Also const. with preps., as for, of, to (with inf.). Obs.
| c 1386 Chaucer Manciple's Prol. 55 So vnweeldy was this sory palled goost. 1421–2 Hoccleve Dialog 248 My lymes sumdell now vnweldy be. 1442 in Proc. King's Counc. Irel. (Rolls) App. 274 The said Erlle..is aged, vnweldy and vnlustie. 1513 Douglas æneid viii. v. 71 Furth held the king vnweildy in auld ȝeris. 1584 R. Scot Discov. Witchcr. i. vi. (1886) 10 A toothless, old, impotent, and unweldie woman. 1606 G. Woodcocke Hist. Ivstine xxxiv. 111 Altogither giuen to sloath, and growne so vnweeldy through dayly ryot. 1621 T. Granger Expos. Eccles. xii. 321 So doe olde men, because they are vnwealdie, and vnable to auoide dangers. 1659 W. Chamberlayne Pharon. i. iii. 72 At that stroke his Limbs Slack their unwieldy Nerves. |
| absol. 1550 Crowley Way to Wealth 685 To releue the vnweldy that be not able to labour for theire fode. |
| (b) 1570 Foxe A. & M. (ed. 2) I. 80/1 Narcissus..was vnwieldy for his age to gouerne that function alone. 1588 T. Hughes Misfort. Arthur i. ii. 13 Any wight vnwildie of herselfe. 1592 Nashe P. Penilesse E 2 b, To corrupt the braine, and make it vnapt and vnweldie for anything. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. ii. xix. 128 The weilding of his sword hath not made him unweildie to do any other work. |
† b. Of age, etc.: Characterized or attended by infirmity, weakness, or impotence.
Obs.| 1430–40 Lydg. Bochas i. 2127 In his vnweeldi age He was compellid to holden his passage Out off Thebes. c 1450 ― Secrees 645 Yif inpotence of his vnweldy age, In his desirs put hym nat abak. 1502 Will of Wilbey (Somerset Ho.), Oppressed with gret unweldy age. a 1592 Greene Jas. IV, iii. iii, Mine age vnweldie and vnmeete for toyle. 1659 W. Chamberlayne Pharon. ii. iii. 167 Although unwieldy age allow Not strength to sell my life at such a rate Honour aimes at. 1685 Dryden tr. Horace, Odes i. ix. 28 E're with'ring time the taste destroyes, With sickness and unwieldy years! |
2. Of persons or animals: Moving ungracefully or with difficulty, by reason of corpulence or ponderousness; lacking litheness or flexibility; awkward, clumsy.
| 1530 Palsgr. 328/2 Unweldye, boystouse, lourt. 1538 Starkey England 79 In a dropcy the body ys vnweldy, vnlusty, and slo. 1563 B. Googe Eglogs, etc. (Arb.) 69 A bluddy Butcher byg and blunt, a vyle vnweldy knaue,..at hym..let dryue. 1602 2nd Pt. Return Parnass. iii. ii. 1257 Then the old vnweldy Camels gin to dance. 1650 R. Stapylton Strada's Low-C. Wars x. 11 Others that wore Armes which made them unweldier, not so nimble to avoid a hurt. 1677 Plot Oxfordsh. 134 The motion of so unwildy Creatures as Elephants. 1741 J. Wilford Mem. App. 41 From the unwieldiest Beast of Land or Deep. 1779 Mirror No. 8, I have seen the unwieldy burgess changed into a slender gentleman. 1823 Scott Quentin D. xxix, He was, though now somewhat unwieldy, a powerful, athletic man. 1867 E. F. Bowden tr. Fathers of Desert 149 An unwieldy Bactrian camel had gone mad. |
| transf. 1553 T. Wilson Rhet. 2 b, Nothyng is more nedefull, then..to cherishe these our lompishe and vnweldie natures. 1606 Chapman Gent. Usher iii. ii. 174 She shall have an unweldie and dull soule If she be nothing moov'd with my poore tongue. 1635 A. Stafford Panegyricke in Female Glory e 7, The toylesome burthen of unweldy clay. |
b. Characterized by clumsy massiveness, awkward shape, or ponderousness.
| 1582 Stanyhurst æneis iii. (Arb.) 83 When that..strayts shal be opned neere craggy vnwieldye Pelorus. 1596 Spenser F.Q. vi. viii. 28 Th' other Knight, Whom with his weight vnweldy downe he held. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. i. 39 As a ship of exceeding great bulke..endangered through the own unweldy hugenesse. 1671 Milton Samson 54 But what is strength without a double share Of wisdom, vast, unwieldy, burdensom. 1720 Pope Iliad xvii. 834 As when two mules..Drag some vast beam, or mast's unwieldy length. 1753 Hogarth Anal. Beauty vi. 30 Elephants and whales please us with their unwieldy greatness. 1793 T. Beddoes Observ. 101 Two cases of unwieldy corpulence. 1828 Lytton Pelham II. xxi, His person..was of no unwieldy obesity. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. I. xx. 260 Of such unwieldy bulk as not unfrequently to be mistaken for the walrus. 1892 Photogr. Ann. 374 On account of its unwieldy dimensions. |
c. Expressed, manifested, or exhibited in a clumsy, awkward, or ungraceful manner; awkwardly performed.
| a 1635 Corbet Poems (1807) 107 What a sting Of lust do their unwildy daunces bring? 1648 J. Beaumont Psyche vii. xxxii, O'rpowr'd with most unweildy thanks and praise. 1728 Thomson Spring 776 The broad Monsters..flounce, and tumble in unwieldy Joy. 1748 Anson's Voy. ii. i. 124 Their motion being the most unweildy that can be conceived. 1789 Cowper On Queen's Visit to London 20 [Water] Up⁓spouted by a whale in air, T'express unwieldy joy. 1824 S. E. Ferrier Inher. lxxviii, The manners of Lady C..made her feel her own as something unwieldy and overgrown. 1850 L. Hunt Autobiog. xvii. (1860) 268 Two grampuses..interested us extremely by their unwieldy gambols. |
3. a. Of weapons: Difficult to handle or wield. Also
transf.| a 1547 Surrey æneid ii. (1557) C ii b, The aged man..Forceless..cast his weake unweldy dart. 1595 Locrine iii. iv. 44 This great vnwildie club. 1646 H. Lawrence Comm. Angells 173 The weapon would be too heavy, to unweildy for us to use. 1700 S. L. tr. Fryke's Voy. E. Ind. 160 With my unwildy weapon..I struck him into the left side. 1719 De Foe Crusoe ii. (Globe) 368 These Swords were strange great unweildy Things. 1745 P. Thomas Jrnl. Anson's Voy. 289 Pole-axes like ours, but somewhat more rough and unweildy. |
b. Difficult to control, guide, move, manipulate, etc., by virtue of size, shape, or weight; clumsily massive, awkwardly large; unmanageable.
| 1552 Elyot s.v. Inhabilis, A ship that by reason of the biggenesse is vnwildie. 1644 Milton Areop. (Arb.) 71 Untill hee see our small divided maniples cutting through at every angle of his ill united and unweildy brigade. 1663 Cowley The Complaint v, The dull work of thy un⁓weildy Plough. 1679 Moxon Mech. Exerc. ix. 161 These Doors are commonly un-weildy to lift off and on. 1774 J. Bryant Mythol. II. 408 Ships, which were unwieldy, and of great burden. 1814 Ld. J. Russell in S. Walpole Life (1889) I. 75 His legs being quite swollen and unwieldy. 1865 Kingsley Herew. xxi, A pole..which he dragged after him, like an unwieldy tail. 1879 S. C. Bartlett Egypt to Pal. xix. 406 Division-walls,..composed of large and un⁓wieldy stones. |
c. fig.,
transf., and in
fig. context.
| 1538 Starkey England iii. 79 We haue ouer-many [priests], wych..make our polytyke body vnweldy and heuy. 1589 Almond for Parrat B iij, His..burlibond adiunctes, that so pester his former edition with their vnweldie phrase, as no true syllogisme can haue elbowe roome. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. ix. 139 [To] make us Britains beare Th' vnwieldy Norman yoke. 1632 Lithgow Trav. iv. 144 This vnwealdy body [of the Ottoman dominion in Persia] hauing two heads, began to decline. 1665 Boyle Occas. Refl. iv. xix. 125 Though an unwieldy Affluence may afford some empty Pleasure to the Imagination. a 1704 T. Brown Praise Poverty Wks. 1720 I. 113 Raising their own Fortunes to an unweildy Bulk. 1744 Akenside Pleas. Imag. iii. 117 Hints deep-omened with unwieldy schemes, And dark portents of state. 1777 Burke Let. to Sheriffs of Bristol Wks. III. 187 The unwieldy haughtiness of a great ruling nation. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. I. p. vi, The second fault of Guthrie's Grammar..is its unwieldy and disproportionate account of Great Britain. 1807 J. Barlow Columb. vi. 331 Athenian youths, the unwieldy war to meet, Couch the stiff lance. 1826–7 H. Neele Lit. Rem. (1829) 49 The ‘Iliad’ [of Chapman] is written in the cumbrous and unwieldy old English measure of fourteen syllables. |
| absol. 1702 Steele Funeral iii. 44 That strong Masculine thing..pretends to all the Tenderness in the World! and would Fain put the Unwieldy upon us for the Soft, the Languid! |
4. Indisposed to submit to guidance or command; restive, recalcitrant, indocile. Also
const. to.
| 1513 Douglas æneid xiii. vi. 34 [He] went..the onweldy common pepill ilkane To caus adres eftir thar faculte. 1549 Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. Titus 28 That nacion beyng rebellious and vnweyldy to be ordered. 1584 Lodge Alarum E iv, What praise deserueth he that will proffer..the raine to an unwildie colt? 1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. xvi. §30. 659/2 The Flemings grew vnweildie to his commandements. 1730 T. Boston Mem. vi. (1899) 67 In the forenoon I thought my heart was very unwieldy. |
| fig. and transf. c 1611 Chapman Iliad xiv. 13 As when with vnwieldie waues, the great Sea forefeeles winds, That both waies murmure. 1641 Milton Reform. i. 13 Exact Reformation is not perfited at the first push, and those un⁓weildy Times of Edward 6. may hold some Plea by this excuse. a 1699 J. Beaumont Psyche x. ccclxxxvii, He knows the heat of this unweildy Passion, And will allow it brave Immoderation. |
† 5. Inexpert or awkward (
in doing something); incapable, unpractical.
Obs.| 1666 J. Davies Hist. Caribby Isles 201 They are..so fearful and unwieldy in the handling of Armes, that they are easily reduc'd under subjection. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 27 ¶2 A Rake..is a poor unwieldy Wretch, that commits Faults out of the Redundance of his good Qualities. |