a. Also 6 vnbeleu(e)able, 6–7 vnbeleeu(e)able; 7 unbeleavable; 6 unbelieuable. [UN-1 7 b.] That cannot be believed; incredible.
1548. Geste, Pr. Masse, A viij b. Which graunt [= admission] as it is erronyouse and vnbeleueable so vngodly and exchuable.
1549. Coverdale, etc., Erasm. Par. Acts vii. 36. Though it semed to be a thynge vnbeleuable that was promysed,… Abraham beleued.
1580. Apol. Prince of Orange, liv. Some … will thinke it vnbeleeueable, that euer there could be founde, such great inconstancie in them.
1624. Heywood, Gunaik., VII. 346. Hugotio … began to recite many unbeleavable things concerning his appetite in his youth.
1633. J. Done, trans. Aristeas’ Hist. Septuagint, 63. This is a thing yet more admirable, and almost vnbeleeuable.
1797. Mrs. Radcliffe, Italian, xxii. However unbelievable it may seem, you may depend upon it, it is all true.
1833. Carlyle, Misc. Ess., Diderot (1888), V. 52. He believes that pleasure is pleasant: that a lie is unbelievable.
1895. Saintsbury, Corrected Impressions, xv. 144. Almost unbelievable faults of taste.
Hence Unbelievably adv.
1839. Bailey, Festus, 359. Made pure, and unbelievably uplift Above their present state.
1893. Chamb. Jrnl., 19 Aug., 514/1. It seemed almost unbelievably sweet.
