▪ I. † unˈchristen, a. Obs.
[OE. uncristen (see un-1 7 and christen a.), = ON. {uacu}kristinn (Da. ukristen, Sw. okristen), OHG. unchristáni (MHG. unkristen).]
= unchristian a. Also absol.
| c 1000 tr. Baeda's Eccl. Hist. iv. xvi. (MSS. O and Ca.) Ðeah ðe hi þa ᵹyta uncristene wæron. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. i. 91 Clerkes þat knowen hit scholde techen hit aboute, For Cristene and vn-cristene him cleymeþ vchone. c 1400 Rowland & Otuel 218 For-thi hathe he sent the worde by mee, Þat þou schall vn-cristen bee. 1456 Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 86 And a cristyn man war in a bataill..agayn the uncristyn. Ibid. 298 Paganis that we call unCristyn men. 1509 Barclay Shyp of Folys (1570) 201 All the land about, Trembling for feare of the unchristen route, Of cursed Turkes and other infidels. 1553 Respublica i. i. 71 My veray trewe vnchristen Name ys Avarice. |
Hence † unˈchristenness. Obs.—1
| c 1548 in Strype Cranmer ii. viii. (1694) 176 Making the same..a Den or Sink of all Unchristiness. |
▪ II. unˈchristen, v.
[un-2 3.]
1. trans. To reverse the christening of; to deprive of the name given at christening.
| 1598 Florio, Sbattezzare, to vnchristen, to forget ones proper name. 1831 Q. Rev. XLV. 416 The church of St. Geneviève was once more unchristened, and ana-paganized by its absurd name of the Pantheon. 1868 H. Bushnell Serm. Living Subj. 167 These desolating doubts..are present as powers of the air to unchristen the new born thoughts of religion as fast as they arrive. 1893 in J. H. Barrows World's Parlt. Relig. II. 1152 Before you can strip the discovery [of America] of its religious character, you must unchristen the admiral's flagship. |
† 2. = unchristianize v. Obs.
| 1643–5 Milton Divorce ii. xxii, To constrain him furder were to unchristen him, to unman him. 1653 Baxter Chr. Concord 50 They would unchristen all the Reformed Christians in all these Nations. 1670 ― Cure Ch. Div. 296 Therefore on one side let us take heed how we unchurch and unchristen any with whom we do not corporally join. 1718 Cibber Non-juror Prol., There safe, he lets his thundring Censures fly, Unchristens, damns us, gives our Laws the Lie. |
Hence unˈchristening ppl. a.
| 1659 Baxter Key Cath. ii. iii. 429 It would be a damning unchristening sin to deny the Headship of the Pope or General Council, if they were indeed the Head of the Church. |