c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., I. ii. 9. Thei schulden not be … so ruyde and vnformal and boistose in resonyng.
1597. Morley, Introd. Mus., 81. Your fift, sixt, and seuenth notes be wilde and vnformall, for that vnformall skipping is condemned in this kinde of singing.
1661. Campion, Counterpoint, 109. This passage from the flat to the sharp would be unformal.
1678. Sir G. Mackenzie, Crim. Laws Scot., II. xxiii. § 4 (1699), 249. Often times they return unformal verdicts.
1799. H. Mitchell, Scotticisms, 87. The contract was unformal.
b. = INFORMAL a. 1 b.
1825. Cath. Stanley, Jrnl., in Mem. (1879), 211. The unpunctual [people] are easy, good-tempered, unfussy,… unformal.
1858. M. Pattison, Ess. (1889), II. 328. The rude independence of character, which was generated by that free and unformal life.
Hence Unformally adv.
1597. Morley, Mus., 86. Your seuenth and eighth notes, wherein you fal … so vnformallie to B fa ♭ mi backe againe.
