Unarmed

ppl. a. Also 3 uniarmed, 5 Sc. unermyt, onarmed. [UN-¹ 8.]

  1.  Not armed; having no armor or weapons.

1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 11274. Vn iarmed out he wende to þe barons wel stille.

c. 1330.  Arth. & Merl., 6947 (Kölbing). Vnarmed were þe paiens alle, Our folk hem gun to talle.

1387.  Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), I. 353. Þey fiȝteþ vnarmed, naked in body.

1412–20.  Lydg., Chron. Troy, III. 1719. Cruelly þei had his hede of smet, For he vnarmyd al at meschef stood.

1456.  Sir G. Haye, Law Arms (S.T.S.), 113. A man that is outhir unarmyt, or evill armyt may nocht hald felde in bataill place.

a. 1533.  Ld. Berners, Huon, lxvii. 230. All his company were vnarmed, & all the other .xl. were clene armed.

1579.  W. Wilkinson, Confut. Fam. Love, Ep. Ded. *iij. Neither are able many of them being vnarmed to withstand the enemy.

1632.  W. Lithgow, Trav., III. 89. I neuer could see a Greeke come forth of his house vnarmed.

1671.  Milton, P. R., IV. 626. He all unarm’d Shall chase thee with the terror of his voice.

1748.  Anson’s Voy., II. vi. 200. He came down unarmed to a centinel of ours.

1794.  S. Williams, Vermont, 170. An unarmed defenceless stranger.

1839.  Thirlwall, Greece, VI. 223. The Thracians were keeping very negligent guard, and, in imagined security, were mostly unarmed.

1882.  De Windt, Equator, 69. The remainder of the tribe were unarmed, as it is made a strict rule in Sarawak that … all arms … shall be left behind.

  absol.  1590.  Barwick, Disc. Weapons, 10 b. The musket … will kill the armed of proofe at ten skore yardes,… and the vnarmed at thirty skore.

  transf.  1634.  Milton, Comus, 582. Th’ unarmed weakness of one Virgin Alone, and helpless!

1827.  Pollok, Course T., IX. 965. Sin’s dark tactics, such as boyish man, Unarmed by strength divine, could ill withstand.

  2.  Of animals, etc.: Not fitted for attack; not furnished with horns, teeth, or the like.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVIII. lxxx. (Bodl. MS.). The schepe … is a nesche beeste and bereþ wolle & is vnarmed & plesinge in herte.

1649.  Lovelace, Lucasta, Poems (1904), 95. A Falcon … Unarm’d of Wings and Scaly Oare.

1804.  Shaw, Gen. Zool., V. I. 14. Unarmed Silure, Silurus Inermis.

1834.  McMurtrie, Cuvier’s Anim. Kingd., 495. Furcularia.… The body is unarmed.

1855.  Orr’s Circ. Sci., Inorg. Nat., 108. Reptiles … whose two tusks, in an otherwise unarmed jaw, strikingly distinguish them from any of their contemporaries.

1869.  Tanner, Clin. Med. (ed. 2), 309. The unarmed or beef tape-worm, as its name implies, is unfurnished with hooks around its head.

  3.  Of plants: Destitute of prickles, spines, or thorns.

1676.  Grew, Anat. Flowers, II. App. § 11. The Top is Thorny, as in Furz; or Vnarmed. Vnarmed, either produced, that is, poynted, or at least, Roundish.

1793.  Martyn, Lang. Bot., Inerme folium, an unarmed leaf.

1845.  Steele, Field Bot., 218. Bracts of invol. linear-lanceolate, almost unarmed.

1855.  Miss Pratt, Flower. Pl., II. 298. Unarmed Hornwort. Fruit without either spines or tubercles.

1870.  Hooker, Stud. Flora, 107. Prunus communis,… Sub-sp. domestica;… branches straight unarmed.

  4.  Of things: Not provided with anything that assists or strengthens.

1693.  Dryden, Juvenal, x. 319. The same foulness does to Age belong, The self same Palsie,… And Gums unarm’d to mumble Meat in vain.

a. 1721.  Prior, Journ. to Copt-Hall, 12. I mount, and great as Hudibrass, With unarm’d kick urge on my horse.

1860.  Tyndall, Glac., I. xxvii. 200. Pattens … sank less deeply than the unarmed feet.

1860.  Emerson, Cond. Life, v. 156. In Siberia, a late traveller found men who could see the satellites of Jupiter with their unarmed eye.

  † 5.  Of a magnet: Not provided with an armature. Obs.

1662.  J. Bargrave, Pope Alex. VII. (1867), 120. Two large loadstones, one armed with steel…. The other … is unarmed.

1730.  Phil. Trans., XXXVI. 325. I placed the Pole of the upper Armour about 4 or 5 Inches from the Top of the unarmed Bar. Ibid. (1777), LXVII. 135. A fine, smooth, unarmed load-stone.

  Hence Unarmedness.

1684.  H. More, Answer, 208. This Lamblike condition of it is chiefly represented in this present Vision, its seeming harmlesness and unarmedness.