▪ I. unˈready, a.1
[un-1 7.]
1. Not in a state of readiness or preparation: a. Without const.
| c 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 1990 If a man þat unredy es, Be tane with dede in his wykednes. 1382 Wyclif 2 Cor. ix. 4 Lest when Macedonyes schulen come with me, and schulen fynde ȝou vnredy, we schamen [etc.]. c 1450 tr. De Imitatione i. xxiii. 31 Lyue so þat deþe finde þe neuer unredy. c 1560 Jack Juggler B ii b, And as you see for the most part our witts be best When wee be takyne most vnrediest. 1570 Foxe A. & M. (ed. 2) 69/2 Some other there were vnready and not so well prepared. 1603 J. Davies (Heref.) Microcosmos Wks. (Grosart) I. 56/2 Our force lies most dispersed at the Plow, Vnready, rude, and oft rebellious too. 1671 Clarendon Hist. Reb. ix. §30 Fairfax was..not in readiness to march; yet reported to be much more unready than he was. 1790 A. Wilson Death Poet. Wks. (1846) 64 And, if unready, we are caught by Death, He throws us howling to the gulph beneath. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xix. IV. 268 His enemies, while still unready, learned with dismay that he had taken the field in person. |
| absol. 1838 G. Johnston Brit. Zoophytes 102 Should the prey prove too tough, woe! to the unready! |
b. Const. to with inf.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 25478 Vnworthi am i..And al vnredi for to rise On domesdai be-for iustise. 1510–20 Everyman in Hazl. Dodsley I. 104 Full unready I am such reckoning to give. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. v. 45 False Duessa..found the Faery knight Departed thence, albe his woundes wide Not throughly heald, vnreadie were to ride. 1615 W. Lawson Country Housew. Gard. (1626) 29 Want of strength may make them vnready to receiue sap. 1707 S. Sewall Diary 15 Dec., I express'd my self unready to vote for it. 1871 R. H. Hutton Ess. v. I. 125 If it be a righteous life and will..that stirs human nature thus deeply, and finds us..unready to adapt ourselves to it. |
c. Const. for, † of, or with.
| 1617 Woodall Surgeon's Mate (1639) 191 He is an unworthy Chirurgion, which is at any time unready with such needfull instruments. 1702 Rowe Tamerl. i. i, Secure of Peace and for Defence unready. 1737 Whiston Josephus, Antiq. v. iii. §2 The Israelites grew so indolent, and unready of taking pains. a 1865 Keble Lett. (1870) 165 Very unready with any plan for meeting it. 1865 Ruskin Arrows of Chace (1880) II. 72, I am not usually unready for a controversy. |
2. Not prepared or made ready.
| c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. II. 40 Þerfore make þi tresoure in God, for..þis tresoure mai not perishe, to be unredi whanne þou hast nede. a 1500 Ratis Raving i. 1003 It is wnreddy payment That þow has fristit out or lent. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 187 It is an eivill man of warre that wil have his weapen unreadie when he should occupie it. a 1548 Hall Chron., Edw. V, 12 b, And so all thyng was vnredy, when this message came. 1632 Holland Cyrupædia 125 When he vieweth your forces, he will thinke his owne to be yet unready. 1721 Strype Eccl. Mem. II. xx. 405 The money was unready when Cæsar had present need thereof. |
† b. Sc. Not easy or plain. Obs.
| 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. (Rolls) I. 440 Nocht ane..wist weill quhair away for till wend, The gait wes sa vnreddy and miskend. |
3. Undressed; in deshabille. Obs. or dial.
In common use from c 1595 to 1640.
| 1591 Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, ii. i. 39 [stage-dir.] The French leape ore the walles in their shirts. Enter..Bastard, Alanson, Reignier, halfe ready, and halfe vnready. Alan. How now my Lords? what all vnreadie so? 1625 in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. III. 198 The Queene,..though she were unready,..hasted down a pair of stairs to meet him. 1678 Yng. Man's Call. 364 She desired to go..to dress her head, which by the violence of the wind was made all unready. 1823– in Suffolk and Lincoln glossaries. |
4. Not quick or prompt; hesitating, slow; † not responding readily to command.
| 1594 T. Bedingfield tr. Machiavelli's Florentine Hist. vi. (1595) 149 These newes grieued the Earle exceedingly, bicause he thought his army not fully paid, would be vn⁓readie. 1607–12 Bacon Ess., Youth & Age (Arb.) 260 Like an vnready horse that will neither stopp nor tourne. 1672 Sir T. Browne Let. Friend §22 To become more narrow⁓minded..and tenacious, unready to part with anything. 1708 Rowe Royal Convert 1, There needs no more; For I would spare thee the unready tale. 1824 Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. 124 So alive and eloquent in conversation, that I feel more than ever puzzled and unready. 1855 Mrs. Gaskell North & S. vii, ‘Mr. Thornton, I believe!’ said Margaret, after a half-instant's pause, during which his unready words would not come. 1857 in Mrs. Gaskell C. Brontë (ed. 3) II. 138 She had become unready, nervous, excitable, and either incapable of speech, or talked vapidly. |
| Comb. 1670 Cotton Espernon ii. 409 One of the most unwieldy, and unready footed Animals, that is to say, a Mule. |
Hence † unˈready v. trans., to undress. Obs.—1
| 1593 Sidney's Arcadia iii. (1598) 365 After his wife was departed to her fained repose, as long as hee remayned with his daughter, to giue his wife time of vnreadying her selfe. |
▪ II. unˈready, a.2
[Later form of unredy a., after prec. Cf. unrede b.]
= redeless a. (but usually regarded as = prec. 1 or 4).
Only as an epithet of Ethelred II (died 1016): cf. Polydore Vergil Angl. Hist. (1534) vii. 124 ‘qui pigritia omnia faciebat’.
| 1580 Stow Chron. 134 Etheldrede, commonly called Un⁓ready. 1643 Baker Chron. (1653) 18 Ethelred,..by reason of his backwardnesse in Action, was commonly called the Unready. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. II. 136. 1867 Freeman Norm Conq. I. 286 A prince, who..has received no nobler historical surname than that of the Unready. Ibid. 327 The Unready King showed occasional glimpses of vigour. |