1. Not separated or kept distinct.
1598. Florio, Indistinto, vndistinct, vndistinguished, confused.
1647. Cowley, Mistress, Bathing, v. Her Beauties … will mixt and undistinguisht ly, with all the meanest things that dy.
1760. Sterne, Serm. Yorick, vii. (1784), 197. The undistinguished offers of his services.
1792. Wordsw., Descrip. Sketches, 161. Where afar rich orange lustres glow Round undistinguished clouds, and rocks.
1879. J. Todhunter, Alcestis, 10. If Zeus arms to smite thee, let us stand one undistinguished mark For his stern thunder!
b. In which no distinction is made or can be observed.
1608. Shaks., Lear, IV. vi. 278 (Q 2). O vndistinguish’t space of womans wit.
1666. Boyle, Orig. Forms & Qual., 30. Nor must we look upon the Universe that surrounds us as upon a moveless and undistinguish’d Heap of Matter.
1727. Thomson, Summer, 347. A dazling deluge reigns; and all From pole to pole is undistinguish’d blaze.
1814. Byron, Address Caledonian Meeting, 17. The lowly brave,… Who sleep beneath the undistinguish’d sod.
1851. Trench, Poems, 155. Like undistinguished Night, darkening the skirts of Eve.
c. Not distinguished from or by something.
1612. Chapman, Rev. Bussy D’Ambois, IV. i. 86. I grieve that virtue lives so undistinguish’d From vice in any ill.
1693. Dryden, Juvenal, II. 291. Their Habits (undistinguish’d by Degree) Are plain, alike.
1784. Cowper, Task, I. 592. Blest he, though undistinguish’d from the crowd By wealth or dignity, who dwells secure.
1823. Scott, Quentin D., xxxvii. The noise … was of a character so undistinguished by any peculiar or precise sound, that [etc.].
1882. Farrar, Early Chr., I. 491. The majority are only known to us as names, sometimes undistinguished by a single incident.
2. Not made distinct to perception: a. Indistinct, confused. Now rare.
1595. Daniel, Civ. Wars, II. lxviii. Where diuers-speaking zeale, one murmure findes In vndistinguisht voice to tell their mindes.
1611. Florio, Inarticolata voce, an vndistinguished voice.
1678. Dryden, All for Love, V. i. Some undistinguish’d Words she inly murmur’d.
1781. J. Ripley, Sel. Orig. Lett., 62. Standing upon the bank of a river, muttering undistinguished prayers.
1814. Scott, Lord of Isles, II. xxx. Flush’d is his brow,… And undistinguish’d accents broke The awful silence ere he spoke.
b. Not clearly perceived or discerned.
1814. Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, xxxviii. Finding herself undistinguished in the dusk.
1821. Scott, Kenilw., xxxvii. Mixing with the crowd, [he] stood in some degree an undistinguished spectator … of the masque.
3. Not marked by any distinction; not noted or elevated above others.
1600. E. Blount, trans. Conestaggio, 6. Being vndistinguished, and allyed for money with some Noblemen of the countrey.
a. 1643. W. Cartwright, Poems, No Drawing of Valentines, Wks. (1651), 242. Cast not in Chloe’s Name among the Common undistinguish’d Throng.
1693. Congreve, in Dryden’s Juvenal, XI. (1697), 283. Who … tho’ a Knight, ’mongst common Slaves now stands Begging an Alms, with undistinguisht hands.
1757. W. Wilkie, Epigon., II. 31. Hissing amidst the Spartan ranks it came, And struck a youth of undistinguish’d name.
1800. Asiatic Ann. Reg., 26/2. He remained undistinguished for any thing, except the infamous action, in which [etc.].
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), I. 140. Would not their sons grow up to be distinguished or undistinguished according to their own natural capacities?
