ppl. a. Also 4–5 vnce(e)s(s)ynge, 5 vncecynge. [UN-1 10.] Never ceasing, incessant, continuous. (Common from c. 1750.)
1382. Wyclif, 2 Pet. ii. 14. Hauynge iȝen ful of auoutrie, and vncesynge trespasse, deceyuynge vnstedefast soules.
1410. Prymer, in Maskell, Mon. Rit., III. 16. To the cherubyn and seraphym crien with uncecynge vois.
1743. Francis, trans. Hor., Odes, III. xxix. 9. Nor [do thou] with unceasing Joy survey Fair Æsula’s declining Fields.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), VIII. 157. Still millions more [of gnats] succeed, and produce unceasing torment.
1803. Malthus, Popul., I. vi. 75. The efforts of the German nations to colonize or plunder were unceasing.
1842. Manning, Serm., i. (1848), I. 6. Carrying on unceasing, universal warfare against Heaven.
1873. Leland, Egypt. Sketch-Bk., 196. They are still singing, those unceasing children of Egypt, that quaint old refrain.
Hence Unceasingness.
1727. Bailey (vol. II.), Incessantness, Continualness, Unceasingness. (Also in recent use.)
