1. Of organic matter: Not corrupted or decomposed.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 8724. The body … may not long vpon loft ly vncorruppit.
1555. Eden, Decades (Arb.), 131. Only one remayned vncorrupted, the other being putrified by reason of the longe vyage.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit. (1637), 541. His hand remained heere uncorrupted many hundred yeeres after.
1615. G. Sandys, Trav., 134. The iuyce of Cedars … preserued them vncorrupted.
1707. Mortimer, Husb. (1721), I. 286. It keepeth all things uncorrupted which are put into it.
1734. trans. Rollin’s Anc. Hist., XVI. i. (1827), VI. 344. The body continued uncorrupted all that time.
1870. Bryant, Iliad, XIX. II. 230. The body shall remain Even more than uncorrupted.
2. Of persons: Not rendered morally unsound; not debased or depraved; not influenced by bribes.
1565. Cooper, Thesaurus, Integri testes, witnesses vncorrupted.
1570. T. Norton, trans. Nowel’s Catech., 41 b. Their life, which … shalbe examined by the vncorrupted and seuere iudge according to the truth.
1599. Life Sir T. More, in Wordsw., Eccl. Biog. (1853), II. 185. John More his father a civill man,… just, and uncorrupted.
1620. Middleton & Rowley, World Tost at Tennis, 826. Thou, uncorrupted Lawyer, Virtue’s great miracle.
1732. Pope, Epit. on Gay, 6. Above Temptation, in a low Estate, And uncorrupted, ev’n among the Great.
1754. Wilkes, Corr. (1805), I. 26. Gentlemen, I come here uncorrupting, and I promise you I shall ever be uncorrupted.
1849–50. Alison, Hist. Eur., VIII. li. § 8. 231. Calamities … draw forth the energy of the uncorrupted portion of mankind.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), I. 367. Not the corrupted youth only,… but their uncorrupted elder relatives.
b. Of personal attributes, actions, etc.
1571. Golding, Calvin on Ps. lxvi. 245. He expresseth trew and uncorrupted woorshippinge.
a. 1586. Sidney, Arcadia, III. (1912), 401. Glad to receyve an uncorrupted libertie.
1615. G. Sandys, Trav., 8. The nuptiall sheetes … are … preserued … as a testimonie of their vncorrupted virginities.
1697. Dryden, Æneis, VIII. 548. Thus frugally they earn their children’s bread, And uncorrupted keep their nuptial bed.
1713. Berkeley, Guardian, No. 49, ¶ 5. It is this alone that makes them desirable to an uncorrupted taste.
1797. S. & Ht. Lee, Canterb. T. (1799), I. 303. The lad, whose good-nature was yet uncorrupted by the world, greeted her with cordiality.
1847. Helps, Friends in C., I. i. 7. To do that, he must have an uncorrupted judgment.
3. Unadulterated.
1539. Elyot, Cast. Helthe (1541), 57. So true a poticary, that hath always drowges uncorrupted.
1683. Roxb. Ball. (1885), V. 564. Springs and Streams that still run pure, Nature’s uncorrupted Goods.
Hence Uncorruptedly adv.; -ruptedness.
1570. T. Norton, trans. Nowel’s Catech., 2 b. How godlynesse, holynesse, and Religion, are to be purely and vncorruptedly yelded to God.
1611. Florio, Incorrottibilita, vncorruptednesse.
1644. Milton, Areop. (Arb.), 48. The grace of infallibility, and uncorruptednesse.
1783. Blair, Lect. Rhet., xxviii. II. 97. The purity and uncorruptedness of their morals.
1882. Mayne Reid, in N. Y. Tribune, 19 July. Even when the contest is conducted … uncorruptedly.
