▪ I. unˈholy, a. and n.
[OE. unháliᵹ (f. un- un-1 7 + háliᵹ holy a.), = NFris. unhilleg; older Fl. (Kilian) onheyligh, MDu. onheilich (rare), Du. onheilig; ON. {uacu}heilagr (MDa. and Da. uhellig, Sw. ohelig).]
1. Not holy; impious, profane, wicked: a. Of persons.
| c 1000 Lambeth Ps. xlii. 1 Toscead intingan minne of un⁓haliᵹre þeode. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. Prol. 3 In Habite of an Hermite vn-holy of werkes. 1526 Tindale 2 Tim. iii. 2 The men shalbe..vnthankfull, vnholy, churlisshe. 1607 Shakes. Cor. v. vi. 119 Will you be put in minde of his blinde Fortune..by this vnholy Braggart? 1685 Baxter Paraphr. N.T. Matt. xxv. 26 To confess God's holy Government, and yet to be unholy, is to be self condemning. 1738 Wesley Ps. v. ii, In Souls unholy and unclean Thou never canst delight. 1817 Shelley Rev. Islam x. xlvii, Unholy men, Feasting like fiends upon the infidel dead. 1833 Carlyle Misc. (1857) III. 287 To lodge the whole unholy Brotherhood..in separate cells of the Bastille! |
| absol. 1526 Tindale 1 Tim. i. 10 The lawe is..geven..to synners, to vnholy and vnclean. 1667 Milton P.L. xi. 106 Hast thee, and..drive out the sinful Pair, From hallowd ground th' unholie. 1873 Symonds Grk. Poets vii. 192 The idea of Nemesis quelling the insolent and smiting the unholy. |
b. Of acts, things, etc.
| 1382 Wyclif 2 Tim. ii. 16 Schonye thou vnhooli and veyn spechis. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 363 (MS. A), If he pourchace By wey of thefte unholy thing. 1526 Tindale Heb. x. 29 He..which..counteth the bloud off the testament as an vnholy thynge. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. iv. iii. 30 To keepe me from a most vnholy match. 1632 Milton L'Allegro 4 In Stygian Cave forlorn 'Mongst horrid shapes, and shreiks, and sights unholy. 1653 Jer. Taylor Serm. for Year iv. 50 If things that are lawfull may yet be unholy in this sense; much more are unlawfull things most unholy in all senses. 1717 Pope Eloisa to Abelard 224 Far other dreams my erring soul employ, Far other raptures, of un⁓holy joy. 1791 Cowper Odyss. xxii. 479 Unholy is the voice Of loud thanksgiving over slaughter'd men. 1842 Manning Serm. x. (1848) I. 135 Cultivation of mind, refinement,..are often found in men of the unholiest passions. 1885 ‘Mrs. Alexander’ Valerie's Fate v, There is nothing so awful, so unholy as a mere marriage of expediency. |
2. colloq. Awful, dreadful. (Cf. ungodly a. 3.)
| 1842 Dickens Let. 24 Dec. (1974) III. 401, I am reminded of my promise to see to the Pantomime, and am called out at this unholy hour. 1865 ― Mut. Fr. iv. iii, An unholy glare..shone in the eyes of Mr. Wegg. 1883 D. C. Murray Hearts xxxiv. (1885) 288 He had arrived..at a rather unholy sort of hour. 1899 E. Phillpotts Human Boy 35 Trelawny had called him an ‘unholy bounder’. |
3. n. An unholy person or thing.
| 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. iii. xi, How many other Unholies has your covering Art made holy, besides this Arabian Whinstone! 1837 ― Fr. Rev. i. i. ii, All Phenomena of the spiritual kind: Dignities, Authorities, Holies, Unholies! |
▪ II. unˈholy, v.
[un-2 3.]
trans. To make unholy. Hence unˈholied ppl. a.
| a 1555 Philpot in Coverdale Lett. Mart. (1564) 238 You haue bene sanctifyed and made pure through the truth, take hede you be not vnholied and defyled. 1603 Drayton Bar. Wars i. vi, Thou shouldst to them haue layd the Holy Word, And not thy hand to the unholyed Sword. 1649 Heylin Relat. & Observ. ii. To Rdr., O wretched unholied men! What are they that thus commit Burglary in the Sanctum Sanctorum of Gods Providence? |