a. Without const.
1598. Florio, Inconueneuole,… vnbeseeming, vnbecomming.
1605. Shaks., Macb., III. i. 14. If he had beene forgotten, It had bene as a gap in our great Feast, And allthing vnbecomming.
1659. W. Chamberlayne, Pharonnida, III. 187. Some this bold Act of her’s Term un-becoming Passion.
1688. in Ellis, Orig. Lett., Ser. II. IV. 155. One of his own officers … had provoked Mr. Howard to give him some unbecoming language.
1727. Swift, To Young Lady, Wks. 1755, II. II. 49. Those of our sex, who presume to take unbecoming liberty before you.
1775. Sheridan, St. Patrick’s Day, I. ii. It is very unbecoming in you to want to have the last word with your Mamma.
1816. J. Wilson, City of Plague, II. i. 209. With frantic outcry and with violent steps Most unbecoming mid the hush of death.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xxi. IV. 541. They pointed out … with a grave irony which is not unbecoming, the absurdities … of the statute.
1885. Sir J. Hannen, in Law Rep., 15 Q.B.D. 143. It would be highly unbecoming if the justices were present when the medical man made his examination.
b. Governing a sb. (Cf. BECOME v. 8 b.)
1658. Whole Duty Man, x. § 23. This savageness … is so unbecoming the nature of a man, that [etc.].
1670. Cotton, Espernon, I. I. 12. An assiduity and diligence unbecoming his Spirit, and Blood.
1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, V. viii. Behaviour, so unbecoming a Christian.
a. 1774. Goldsm., Hist. Greece, I. 21. They … had a power of arresting their kings, if they acted unbecoming their station.
1830. Scott, Pirate, vii., note. The woman’s dwelling and appearance were not unbecoming her pretensions.
1842. Tennyson, Ulysses, 53. Some work of noble note may yet be done, Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.
1882. Daily News, 22 Aug., 6/4. Temper unbecoming of all places the Judgment seat.
c. Const. of.
1741. Chesterf., Lett., May. What was not unbecoming of a child would be disgraceful to a youth.
c. 1800. R. Cumberland, John De Lancaster (1809), II. 254. You must not do what is unbecoming of your situation.
1803. Censor, 1 Nov., 124. He never offered any thing unbecoming of a man who has serious intentions of wedding a woman.
1862. J. F. Stephen, Def. Rowl. Williams, 180. It would be unbecoming, I think, of the character of any man [etc.].
