▪ I. unˈdone, ppl. a.1
[un-1 8 b. Cf. OFris. ondan (N.Fris. ündōn), MDu. ongedaen (Du. -daan), MHG. ungetân (G. -than, -tan).]
1. Not done; unaccomplished, uneffected.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 13176 His comandment was noght vn-dun, For he was heued and þat als sun. c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 90 He mot leue goddis comaundement vndon. c 1440 Jacob's Well 114 Ȝif..þou leve vnsayd or vndo þat is nedefull..þanne is it dedly synne. a 1450 Myrc Par. Pr. 1187 Hast þou any pylgrimage laft vn-do When þou were i-ioynet þer-to? 1535 Act 27 Hen. VIII, c. 25 Euery parishe..shal lose & forfait .xx.s. for euery moneth, in whiche it is omitted and vndone. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iii. xxi. 110 [They] goe on such pilgrimage, leauing vndone al other houshold or common affaires. 1678 Butler Hud. iii. ii. 160 The Publick Business is undone, Which still the longer 'tis in doing, Becomes the surer way to Ruine. 1706 Prior Ode to the Queen xix, Nought done the Hero deem'd, while ought undone remain'd. 1759 Johnson Rasselas xxx, I must not..leave at last undone what I came hither only to do. 1791 Mrs. Radcliffe Rom. Forest iv, They went out of the shop together, leaving my horse's shoe undone. 1847 Helps Friends in C. I. 5 If I leave it undone, some one else will do it to my mind. 1871 Macduff Mem. Patmos vi. 74 The sword completed what the fire had left undone. |
b. As n. That which is not done.
| 1872 Ruskin Arrows of Chace (1880) II. 208 The condemnation..is all for the undones and not for the dones. |
2. Not done away, not removed.
| 1679 C. Nesse Antichrist 204 While this Vail and face of Covering is undone away. |
▪ II. unˈdone, ppl. a.2
[f. undo v.]
1. Brought to decay or ruin; ruined, destroyed.
Chiefly predicative, but the attributive use was not infrequent in the 17th and was common in the 18th century.
| 1340 Ayenb. 136 Hueruore his bodi is ondo, and his inwyt uolueld. a 1400–50 Alexander 1472 We ere dredles vnd one, bot driȝten vs help. a 1450 Mirk's Festial 192 He..ȝaf hym all to foly aftyr, and laft hit neuer til he wer vndon. 1484 Caxton Fables of æsop ii. ix, Many one is vndone and lost for faulte of obedyence. a 1542 Wyatt in Tottel's Misc. (Arb.) 85 When her store was stroyed with the floode: Then weleaway for she undone was cleane. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 91 Keepe hop from sunne, and hop is vndunne. 1608 Middleton Trick to catch Old One iii. i, That Witgood is a riotous, undone man. 1646 P. Bulkeley Gospel Covt. i. 48 The low and undone condition they have brought themselves into by their sins. a 1687 Petty Pol. Arith. (1690) 89 England commonly beareth the whole burthen, and charge, whereby many in England are utterly undone. 1724 Swift Drapier's Lett. ii, We are all undone if Wood's halfpence must pass. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones xvii. iv, I am the most miserable undone Wretch upon Earth. 1810 Crabbe Borough xiv. 14 Blaney, a wealthy heir at twenty-one, At twenty-five was ruin'd and undone. 1839 Dickens Nich. Nick. lvi, I am undone. Whichever way I turn, I am undone. a 1864 Ferrier Grk. Philos. (1866) I. xii. 348 A soul without justice..is a soul undone. |
2. Unfastened, untied, detached, etc.
| 1565 Cooper Thesaurus, Vincla resoluta, loosed or vndoone. 1806–7 J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life vi. xxxvi, The outer bandage of a hurt in your bridle-hand coming undone. 1884 W. S. Gilbert Princess Ida ii, Let all your things misfit, and yourselves At inconvenient moments come undone. |
Hence unˈdoneness. rare—1.
| 1835 R. M. McCheyne Addit. Rem. (1847) 35 Under a sense of undoneness, to flee for refuge to the Saviour. |