unked

unked

English

Etymology

From Middle English unked, past participle of unkythen, equivalent to un- +‎ ked (an old past participle form of kithe).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʌnˈkɛd/

Adjective

unked (comparative more unked, superlative most unked)

1. (UK, dialect, archaic) odd; strange
   • 1864 August – 1866 January, [Elizabeth] Gaskell, Wives and Daughters. An Every-day Story. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published 1866, OCLC 83344188:

     On Tuesday afternoon Molly returned home, to the home which was already strange, and what Warwickshire people would call 'unked,' to her. New paint, new paper, new colours; grim servants dressed in their best, and objecting to every change

   • 1898, William Morris, The Sundering Flood, p. 41

     Forsooth he misdoubted him that the bow was somewhat unked, and that the lad had had some new dealings with the Dwarf-kin or other strange wights.

2. (UK, dialect, archaic) ugly
   • 1869, Richard Doddridge Blackmore, Lorna Doone Chapter 17

     And there the little stalk of each, which might have been a pear, God willing, had a ring around its base, and sought a chance to drop and die. The others which had not opened comb, but only prepared to do it, were a little better off, but still very brown and unked, and shrivelling in doubt of health, and neither peart nor lusty.

3. (UK, dialect, archaic) old
4. (UK, dialect, archaic) uncouth
5. (UK, dialect, archaic) lonely; dreary; unkard
   • March 21, 1790, William Cowper, letter to Mrs. Throckmorton

     Weston is sadly unked without you.

Related terms

• kithe
• uncouth

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for unked in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913)

Anagrams

• nuked