Now chiefly dial. [UN-1 7 + GAIN a. Cf. ON. úgegn unreasonable, obstinate, MSw. ogēn unsuitable, unpleasant.]
1. Of ways: Not plain or direct.
a. 1400. Bone Florence, 1421. The lady seyde, We ryde ylle, Thes gates they are ungayne.
1426. Audelay, Poems (Percy Soc.), 14. Therof the pepul wold be fayne, Fore to cum home aȝayne, That hath goon gatis ungayne, for defaute of lyȝt.
1613. Beaum. & Fl., Cupid’s Rev., IV. i. Though she take th’ ungain’st weas she can, I’ll ne’er ha’t fro’ you.
1824. [Carr], Craven Gloss., 119. Vngain, round about, indirect.
1854. Miss Baker, Northampt. Gloss., s.v., An indirect roundabout road is an ungain one.
† 2. Unsparing, severe; rongh. Obs.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 1332. Ercules … Gird gomes vnto grounde with vngayn strokes.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., I. xi. 952. Thare reueris ragis for na rayne, Na muffis for na wedderis vngayne.
3. Unpleasant, disagreeable.
a. 1425. Cursor M., 22751 (Trin.). Alas what shal þe synful say? vngeyn [earlier MSS. ungainand] þenne shal be his gamen.
1795. H. Walpole, Lett. to Miss Berry, 28 Aug. The assemblage was not so ungain as I expected, for … there were several I knew.
1851. Palgrave, Norm. & Eng., I. 312. The ungain character of Raoul Torta … has been clearly chronicled.
4. Awkward, inconvenient, troublesome, difficult. † At ungain, inconveniently.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., ii. 379. Bot this cors I wold were hid, For som man myght com at vngayn.
1553. Bale, Gardiner’s De vera Obed., C iij b. Left hande mater is vngayne, and wicked what soo euer proceedeth of the fleshe.
1635. Quarles, Embl., I. xiii. How backward! how preposterous is the motion Of our ungain devotion!
1763. Wesley, Compend. Nat. Philos. (1784), I. II. i. § 2. 206. The joints by which they bend are nearly in the middle,… and the large bulk which they are to support, makes their flexure ungain.
1764. Museum Rust., II. 84. As they are ungain to empty on the cloth,… they are not much used.
1782. Miss Burney, Cecilia, IX. vi. But, Sir, that was but an ungain business … t’ other morning.
1823–. in dialect glossaries.
1837. Marryat, Dog Fiend, iii. The ungain temper of his brute companion.
1893. P. H. Emerson, Lagoon, xxxii. 168. Are you all alone in that wherry?… isn’t she ongain for the bridges?
5. Unskilled, incompetent; good-for-nothing.
1658. W. Burton, Itin. Anton., 229. Peutingers Military Tables, which the noble Mark Velser set forth, but corruptly (for how could it be otherwise after so long time, and so ungain Transcribers?).
1834. Beckford, Italy, II. 93. One of the most ungain, conceited professors of the art of murdering I ever met with.
1851. Borrow, Lavengro, III. 374. For fear that he should turn out what is generally termed ungain, my father determined to send him to sea.
6. = UNGAINLY a. 1.
1709. Mrs. Manley, Secret Mem. (1720), III. 269. She look’d wholesome, ungain, and country. Ibid., IV. 72. What we see of her now is nothing but an old slatternly, ungain Thing.
1779. G. Keate, Sk. fr. Nat. (ed. 2), II. 66. I was … a pupil of the famous Marcel of Paris, though no one who now views my curved and ungain figure, would suppose it.
1835. Beckford, Recoll., 108. One of the most ungain hobbledehoys I ever met with.
1844. P. Parley’s Ann., V. 306. He is the most ungain and foolish loitering bird in our domain.
Comb. 1834. J. J. Halls, Life H. Salt, I. i. 15. He was at that time a tall, thin, and somewhat ungain-looking young man, of insinuating address, and of frank and pleasing manners.
b. Of movement, bearing, etc.
1757. [E. Perronet], Mitre, I. xxxi. What ungain postures of defence, As void of manliness as sense!
1776. Mme. D’Arblay, Lett., 2 Dec., in Early Diary. She … has a carriage the most ungain that ever was seen.
1820. L. Hunt, Indicator, No. 64 (1822), II. 95. Walking in the most ungain manner upon its hind legs.
1824. Examiner, 1 Feb., 71/1. The position on her knees is ungain.
