a. Obs. exc. dial. Forms: 12 unfæle (2 unn-), 3 unfeale; 23 unfele (vn-), 34 unvele (vnuele, onvele), 9 Sc. and north. onfeel, unfeil. [OE. unfǽle, f. un- UN-1 + fǽle good, FELE a.2] Bad, evil, wicked; wretched, miserable, unpleasant.
a. 900. Genesis, 723. Hit wæs þeah mennisera morð, þæt hie to mete dædon ofet unfæle.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, 108. Satiri, uel fauni, unfæle men, wudewasan, unfæle wihtu.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Mark vi. 49. Hi wendon þæt hit unfæle [c. 1160 un-fele] gast wære.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., II. 79. Ȝif þe unfele man his wille folȝeð and teð him to unwrenches.
c. 1205. Lay., 22018. Neh þere sæ stronde is a mære swiðe muchel; þat water is un-fæle.
a. 1250. Owl & Night., 1003. Þat lond is grislich & vnuele. Ibid., 1381. He is vnvele and forbroyde.
a. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 468/231. Þe sarazins onvele weren fulle of nyþe and hete.
13[?]. R. Gloucesters Chron. (Rolls), App. G. 39. Þe moder his þrote carf, þo was heo vnfele.
c. 1400. Laud Troy Bk., 8830. The while that he hadde his hele, Ther he sclow Gregeys as vn-vele.
1825. Jamieson, Onfeel, unpleasant, disagreeable, implying the idea of coarseness or roughness; as, an onfeel day, onfeel words, &c. Teviotd.
1894. Northumberland Gloss., 756.