unˈborn, ppl. a.
[OE. unboren (un-1 8 b), = OFris. un-, oen-, onbern (WFris. on-, ûnberne), MDu. and Du. ongeboren, OHG. ungi-, ungaporan (MHG. ungeborn, G. -boren), ON. and Icel. {uacu}-, óborinn (MSw. oborin, -burin, Norw. uboren, Da. ubaaren).]
1. Not yet born; still to be born. (Freq. with preceding yet.) Also in fig. context.
| c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. C. xlviii. 367 Mid ðy ðe hie ofsniðen mid ðy seaxe hefiᵹlices ᵹedwolan ða unborenan bearn, ðe..beoð mid wordum ᵹeeacnode on ᵹeleaffullra mode. c 1000 ælfric Lives Saints xxiii. 429 Ure hælend se þe unborenum cildum lif sylð on heora modra innoðe. c 1200 Ormin 17327 Forr þatt Nicodem wass ȝet Unnborenn i þatt time Off Haliȝ Gast. c 1375 Cursor M. 12232 (Fair.), I wende my make ware vnborne [Cott. noght born]. c 1386 Chaucer Melib. ¶2231 Ther is ful many a child vnborn of his mooder that shal sterue yong by cause of that ilke werre. c 1465 Chevy Chase 9 The chylde may rue that ys vn-born, it wos the mor pitte. 1535 Coverdale Eccl. iv. 2 Wherfore I iudged..him that is yet vnborne to be better at ease then they both. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 118 b, Young chyldren, as well borne as unborne. 1624 Eliz. Jocelin (title), The Mothers Legacie, To her vnborne Childe. 1695 Prior Ode after Queen's Death iii, Ages to come, and Men unborn Shall bless her Name. 1717 Pope Iliad x. 61 Yet such his acts, as Greeks unborn shall tell. 1779 Warner in Jesse Selwyn & Contemp. (1844) IV. 294 They had just discovered, by what means I know no more than the child unborn, that [etc.]. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) VI. 190 The devise would have been void, being to an unborn person for life. 1840 Thirlwall Greece VII. lvi. 169 The throne was to be shared between an idiot and an infant yet unborn. 1887 Spectator 22 Oct. 1406 The total abolition of settlements upon unborn lives. |
b. transf. or
fig. Of time, etc.
| 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, v. i. 21 A Portent Of broached Mischeefe, to the vnborne Times. 1667 Milton P.L. vii. 220 Nor staid [He], but..in Paternal Glorie rode Farr into Chaos, and the World unborn. 1712 Spect. No. 316 ¶5 The present Time alone is ours, the future is yet unborn. 1757 Gray Bard 108 Ye unborn Ages, crowd not on my soul! 1776 Gibbon Decl. & F. i. (1782) I. 26 Venice was yet unborn; but the territories of that state..were inhabited by the Venetians. 1822 Shelley Unfinished Drama 203 A nook of unblown violets And lilies-of-the-valley yet unborn. ― To Jane, Invit. 7 The brightest hour of unborn Spring. 1884 Chr. Treasury Feb. 92/2 It is not a function of human intellect to read the secrets of unborn ages. |
2. Not born; deprived of birth. Also
fig.| a 1275 Prov. ælfred 447 in O.E. Misc. 129 For betere is child vnboren þenne vnbeten. a 1300 Cursor M. 15372 To mare blis it had him ben Vnborn if þat he ware. c 1386 Chaucer Shipman's T. 1372 Yet were me leuere that I were vnborn Than me were doon a sclaundre or vileynye. 14.. Lat. & Eng. Prov. (MS. Douce 52) fol. 27 Better is a chylde vnborne þen vnlerned. c 1450 Mirk's Festial 87 Yf God had don vengeans, anon the world had ben endyd mony a day agoo, and so mony had be vnborne, þat now ben holy sayntys yn Heuen. 1546 J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 20 Better vnborne than vntought, I haue heard saie. 1595 Daniel Civ. Wars ii. xcvii, This mighty burthen wherewithall they goe Dies vndeliuered, perishes vnborne. 1618 Bp. Hall Contempl. N.T. i. i, Many a father repents him of his fruitfulnesse, and hath such sons as he wishes unborne. c 1645 Heywood & Rowley Fortune by Land & Sea iii, These mischiefs make me wish my self unborn. a 1661 [see unbred ppl. a. 2]. |
| transf. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 109 Withdrawgh the Banere of thin Armes, And let thi lyhtes ben unborn. |
3. Existing without having been born.
| 1821 Shelley Hellas 769 Look on that which cannot change—the One, The unborn and the undying. |