unconˈfessed, ppl. a.
Also 6 Sc. wnconfessyt, 7–8 unconfest.
[un-1 8.]
1. Not confessed or avowed; unacknowledged. † Also const. of.
| a 1500 in Ratis Raving, etc. 3 He bryngis to his mynd..the synis that he has done, wnconfessyt of or rapentyt. 1509 Fisher Wks. (1876) 86, I shall..thynke on my synne that no thynge of it be vncontryte & vnconfessed. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 227 b, Leuyng no mortall synne vnconfessed. 1648 Hexham ii, Ongebiecht, Vnconfessed. 1863 J. Kavanagh Q. Mab II. 306 It was love mutual—unconfessed, but ardent and impassioned. 1871 R. H. Hutton Ess. I. 4 All unconscious and unconfessed acts of surrender to the divine influence. |
b. Of persons: Not self-avowed.
| 1742 Young Nt. Th. v. 817 Like princes unconfest in foreign courts, Who travel under cover. 1898 A. MacKennal in Life xix. (1905) 314, I think that unconfessed Christians..must have brought the gospel into Britain. |
2. Not having confessed; unshriven.
| 1607 J. Carpenter Plaine Mans Plough 205 For want of Confession, thou shalt be damned, as unconfest. 1638 Penit. Conf. xii. (1657) 331 He came into the Forest to hunt, and there was wounded with an arrow; and forthwith died impenitent and unconfessed. 1808 Scott Marm. i. Introd. 267 A sinful man, and unconfess'd, He took the Sangreal's holy quest. 1810 ― Lady of L. iii. v, Alice..lock'd her secret in her breast, And died in travail, unconfess'd. 1889 ‘Mark Twain’ Yankee at Crt. K. Arthur xvii, It were peril to my own soul to let him die unconfessed and unabsolved. |