▪ I. † unˈhap, n. Obs.
[un-1 12. Cf. ON. {uacu}happ (Icel. óhapp, Norw. dial. uhapp), and wanhap.]
1. Misfortune, mishap.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 180 Mislikunge wiðuten—ase sicnesse, meseise, scheome, vnhep. c 1325 Body & Soul 257 in Map's Poems (Camden) 343 What eyleth the, thou grimli gaast? That me thus breidest of myn unhap. c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame 89 [To] shelde hem fro pouerte and shonde And fro vnhappe and eche disese. 1412–20 Lydg. Chron. Troy iii. 5099 For of þe cite, sothly, and þe toun, His vnhap were endeles ruyne. c 1440 Gesta Rom. xxxiii. 129, I have thorow vnhappe slayn a man. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon i. 38 Your sone is ded by grete unhappe. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. 521 This was the ende of yuan, or Owen, of Wales,..slayne by great vnhap and treason. a 1586 Sidney Arcadia ii. xvi, Sometime to visit that place, where first she was so happy as to see the cause of her vnhap. |
2. With pl. A misfortune or mishap.
| c 1230 Hali Meid. 29 Ne mei na worldlich unhap bireauen ham hare weole. a 1250 Owl & Night. 1267 Naueþ mon no sikerhede Þat he ne may wene & adrede Þat sum vnhap neih him beo. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 892 Þay wern wakned..Of on þe vglokest vnhap þat euer on erd suffred. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 36 Thei..to the god for helpe criden Of suche unhappes as betyden. c 1440 York Myst. xviii. 152 That no myscheue on hym betyde, Nor none vnhappe. 1559 Mirr. Mag. (1562) A a vj, Al which unhappes that they were not foreseene, I was in fault. |
3. attrib. or as adj. = unhappy a.
| 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. (Percy Soc.) 82 Now all my desteny Unhap and happy, upon you doth growe. Ibid. 137 This unhap love had his mynde so broken. |
▪ II. † unˈhap, v. Obs.—1
[f. prec.]
intr. To bring misfortune.
| c 1560 A. Scott Poems xxxiv. 123 Quhair [v.r. For] hurdome ay vnhappis With quenry, canis, and coppis. |