unˈbred, ppl. a.
[un-1 8 b.]
† 1. Unborn. Obs.—1
| c 1600 Shakes. Sonn. civ, For feare of which, heare this thou age vnbred, Ere you were borne was beauties summer dead. |
2. Not properly bred or brought up; not imbued with good manners; unmannerly, ill-bred.
| 1622 in Foster Eng. Factories Ind. (1908) II. 146 Borish unbred upstartts, whoe abound in all pryde and insolenceey. a 1661 Fuller Worthies i. (1662) 34 Seeing much of Truth is contained in our English Proverb, It is as good to be unborn as unbred. 1700 Congreve Way of World iii. xvii, My nephew's a little unbred, you'll pardon him, madam. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 492 ¶2 A little Country Girl..that makes her use of being young and unbred. 1760–2 Goldsm. Cit. W. xxxix, Would he not be reckoned more fantastically savage than even his unbred footman? |
b. Not trained in, not brought up to, some occupation.
| a 1683 Oldham Wks. (1686) 68 Dull Northern Brains, in these deep Arts unbred, Know nought but to cut Throats. 1697 Dryden æneis vii. 1096 A warrior dame; Unbred to spinning, in the loom unskilled. 1878 N. Amer. Rev. CXXVI. 304 With no education,..often unbred to any handicraft. |