ppl. a. [UN-1 8.]
1. Not customary; unfamiliar, unusual, strange.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (Pynson), 92. By the reason of their glorious presence and excellent lyght, unaccustomed to the sayd persons.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 452. Such unaccustomed vices, and not everywhere used.
1621. in Foster, Eng. Factories Ind. (1906), I. 260. Such unaccustomed raynes … hath drowned the greatest parte of new indicoe in the countryes.
1656. Earl Monm., trans. Boccalini’s Advts. fr. Parnass., I. xii. (1674), 15. [He] was met with unaccustomed demonstrations of honour.
1742. Gray, Propertius, II. i. 27. Nor I with unaccustomed vigour trace Back to its source divine the Julian race.
1840. Dickens, Old C. Shop, xvii. At sight of the strange room and its unaccustomed objects she started up in alarm.
1871. Morley, Crit. Misc., Ser. I. 283. Firmer souls were not only exhilarated, but intoxicated by the potent and unaccustomed air.
† b. Const. to with inf. Obs.–1
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 64. They were wont also to sacrifice a bul to Neptune … But vnto Iupiter it was vnaccustomed to be offered.
2. Not accustomed or habituated. Const. to.
1611. Bible, Jer. xxxi. 18. I was chastised, as a bullocke vnaccustomed to the yoke.
a. 1680. Glanvill, Serm., i. (1681), 90. The first steps are roughest to those feet that have been unaccustomed to it.
1728. Eliza Heywood, trans. Mme. de Gomez’s Belle A. (1732), II. 82. Your Heart, unaccustom’d to feel any very tender Impressions, felt some Concern for those you have inspir’d me with.
1797. S. & Ht. Lee, Canterb. T. (1799), I. 352. Lothaire was unaccustomed to fear.
1846. Mrs. A. Marsh, Father Darcy, II. ii. 67. The abhorrence of bloodshed is common to all who are unaccustomed to it.
1891. Farrar, Darkn. & Dawn, lvii. Familiar with crime, he was unaccustomed to be charged with it.
b. Used (attrib. or absol.) without const.
1653. W. Ramesey, Astrol. Restored, 170. Phlebotomy is not any wise dangerous to those that are accustomed therewith, but it may prove dangerous to the unaccustomed.
1794. Mrs. Radcliffe, Myst. Udolpho, xxxv. Circumstances that united to elevate the unaccustomed mind of Blanche to enthusiasm.
1859. Mansel, Lett., Lect., etc. (1873), 192. Quaint as the nomenclature may sound to unaccustomed ears.
1875. Whyte-Melville, Katerfelto, xix. An unaccustomed horse would have stuck fast up to its girths before it had gone fifty yards.
† 3. = UNCUSTOMED ppl. a. Obs.
1701. Lond. Gaz., No. 3737/4. Liable to be … seized in like manner as Prohibited and Unaccustomed Goods. Ibid. (1715), No. 5298/3. Prosecutions … concerning unaccustomed and Prohibited Goods.
Hence Unaccustomedness.
Also unaccustomedly (Torriano, 1659).
1611. Cotgr., Desaccoustumance, a disuse, vnwontednesse, vnaccustomednesse.
1659. Gentl. Calling, 435. The main cause of that disgust men have to this spiritual entercourse, is their unaccustomedness to it.
1866. Lond. Rev., 8 Dec., 623. It is permissible when it leads the worshipper to God, and does not, by its unaccustomedness, splendour, or intricacy, interpose itself as a veil between God and him.
1881. Mrs. Oliphant, in Macm. Mag., April, 493/1. He was seated, not in any familiar corner, but with the forlornest unaccustomedness, in the middle of it.
