unˈweaponed, ppl. a.
[un-1 8. Cf. OE. unᵹewǽpnod, MDu. ongewapent (Du. -wapend), MHG. ungewâfent, -wâpent (G. ungewaffnet, -wappnet).]
Not equipped with or bearing a weapon or weapons; unarmed.
| c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 191 Ðus fliteð þe fiend wið alle men;..and þo ben alle unwepnede þe ne hauen mid hwan hie hem werien. c 1205 Lay. 5654 Þeo cnihtes weoren vnwepned, Þa þe wæne heo wes ȝeueðe. c 1425 Eng. Conq. Irel. 22 So as we bene..well y-wepned,..ne dout no man þat such vnwepned rascayll any power haw ows to wyth⁓stond. 1513–14 Act 5 Hen. VIII, c. 6, Wheras they [sc. surgeons]..have ben entreatid as Herawdes of Armes aswell in batelles and feldes as other places ther for to stond unharnesed and unwapenned. 1553 Bale Vocacyon 28 b, The cruell murtherers..cowardly slewe them all vnarmed & vn⁓weaponed. c 1618 Raleigh Disc. War (1850) 2 Instruments of much advantage against unweaponed men. 1642 Vicars God in Mount 66 Being all unweaponed, and coming onely in a fair and unoffensive manner. 1823 Monthly Mag. LV. 409 He hastes his armour off to throw, And stands un⁓weapon'd. 1874 Spurgeon Treas. Dav. IV. 371 Not by the aid of others, but by his own unweaponed hand his marvellous conquests have been achieved. |
| fig. 1549 Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. 2 Cor. 57 b, As lowe and weake as ye thinke vs, yet are we not vnweaponed, nor without strength to suppresse the aduersaries of the gospel. 1594 Marlowe & Nashe Dido i. ii, Our hands are not prepar'd to lawles spoyle..: Such force is farre from our vnweaponed thoughts. 1624 Massinger Bondman iv. iv, Hee's more a slaue, then Fortune Or Miserie can make me, that insults Vpon vnweapon'd Innocence. a 1628 F. Grevil Cælica xx, Since unweaponed care makes men forlorne, Let me first make your Dogge an Vnicorne. 1859 G. Wilson Mem. E. Forbes iv. (1861) 131 An accuracy [with the stethoscope]..such as the experience of forty years had often failed to bring to the unweaponed physician. |