ppl. a. [UN-1 8 b.]
1. Not under an obligation (to a person); independent. rare.
1674. N. Fairfax, Bulk & Selv., 18. Both unmade by God, and unbeholden to, or independent on God.
c. 1848. J. Keegan, Leg. & Poems (1907), 489. Dandy Delaney and his family grew rich all at once. People … wondered how the mischief he grew so ‘unbeholden’ in a moment.
2. Unbeheld, unseen.
1820. Shelley, Skylark, 48. Like a glow-worm golden … Scattering unbeholden Its aëreal hue.
1867. Jean Ingelow, Poems, Tired, v. And were it good to go, And unbeholden in the vessel’s wake Look on the man thou lovedst, and forgive.
1876. Swinburne, Erechtheus, 813. At a shrine unbeloved of a God unbeholden a gift shall be given for the land.
Hence Unbeholdenness. rare–1.
1674. N. Fairfax, Bulk & Selv., 63. They who hold this wild emptiness, hold also … its independency on, or unbeholdenness to, God himself.
