unˈearned, ppl. a.
[un-1 8.]
1. Not earned by merit or desert; unmerited or undeserved (as reward or punishment).
| c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 33 Deflen..bireueden him [Adam] alle his riche weden, þat waren unerned giue, and undeð⁓licnesse. 1599 Shakes. Mids. N. v. i. 439 If we haue vnearned lucke, Now to scape the Serpents tongue, We will make amends ere long. 1796 F. Burney Camilla II. 383 The sufferings, so utterly unearned by fault or by folly, of a sister so dear to her. 1805 Wordsw. Prelude vi. 168 Such dispositions then were mine unearned By aught, I fear, of genuine desert. |
2. a. Not earned by labour; not worked for.
| 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 225 Casual discourse..intermits Our dayes work brought to little,..and th' hour of Supper comes unearn'd. 1708 J. Philips Cyder i. 374 Wilt thou..rather chuse To lye supinely, hoping Heav'n will..give thee Bread unearn'd? 1799 Coleridge Ode to Duchess of Devonsh. 17 Rich viands..Were yours unearned by toil. 1850 Grote Greece ii. lxii. VIII. 53 This anticipation of an unearned salary. 1873 Hamerton Intell. Life i. iii. 11 One of the unearned gifts of nature. |
b. unearned increment, such increase in the value of land or property as takes place without labour or expenditure on the part of the owner.
| 1871 Scotsman 10 Aug. 3/7 But there is no doubt that the touch of his [sc. Scott's] pen does in many places form an important element of that unearned increment of value—that, I believe, is the scientific term—which Mr Stuart Mill and friends propose shortly to transfer from the lords of the soil to the Lords of the Treasury. 1873 J. S. Mill in Dissert. & Discuss. (1875) IV. 299 The detention by the State of the unearned increment of rent. 1884 in A. Cawston Street Improv. London (1893) 115 The increased value, the unearned increment of this property. |
c. unearned income, (an) income derived from property, interest payments, etc., as opposed to one from a wage, a salary, or from fees.
| 1889 G. B. Shaw Fabian Essays in Socialism 189 A growing disposition to impose a tax of twenty shillings in the pound on obviously unearned incomes. 1912 P. Snowden Living Wage xiii. 148 Even if the enforcement of a living wage lessened the spending power of the people who live on ‘unearned incomes’, that, too, would be for the national good. 1935 Planning 15 Jan. 5 In the case of a married couple the first 30s of unearned income is not taken into account. 1965 Auden About House (1966) 15 No unearned income Can buy us back the gait and gestures To manage a baroque staircase. 1970 Times 29 Jan. 27/5 Is it not about time that the starting point for the imposition of surtax on ‘unearned’ income be raised above {pstlg}2,000 per annum? |