a. (and adv.) [UN-1 7. Cf. WFris. on-, ûnhânsum inexpert, unmanageable, Du. and Flem. onhandzaam (earlier -saem) intractable, unusable, older Da. uhandsøm.]
1. Not handsome, elegant, or graceful; faulty in appearance, form, or structure; plain, uncomely.
1530. Palsgr., 328/1. Unhansome,… mausade.
1579. E. K., Gloss to Spenser’s Sheph. Cal., Nov., 51. Not comed, that is rude and vnhansome.
1589. Horsey, Trav. (Hakl. Soc.), App. 343. I was placed in an howse verie unhandsoom [and] unholsoom.
1648. J. Beaumont, Psyche, XVI. clxxxix. Who ever thought the Rose or Lilie stood Guilty of course unhandsom Nakednesse, Because they never put on borrowed Hood?
1695. Phil. Trans., XIX. 152. This was formerly no unhandsom Structure, being built in the form of our Churches.
1781. P. Beckford, Hunting (1802), 49. I could tell you that I have seen very good sport with very unhandsome packs.
1789. Gibbon, Autobiogr. (1854), 43. A narrow, gloomy street, the most unfrequented of an unhandsome town.
1819. Scott, Ivanhoe, xiv. Both dressed in the ancient Saxon garb,… not unhandsome in itself.
1866. R. Tate, Brit. Mollusks, iv. 142. Helix rotundata is provided with not an unhandsome shell.
1894. Sir G. Parker, Trail of Sword, viii. 94. She is sitting alone in a room of a large, unhandsome house, facing on Boston Harbour.
b. Of persons, their features, etc.
a. 1586. Sidney, Arcadia, II. xix. I was glad I had done so good a deede for a Gentlewoman not unhandsome.
1631. A. Townshend, Albion’s Tri., 22. I was as loath to be brought vpon the Stage as an vnhansom Man is to see himselfe in a great Glasse.
1653. R. Sanders, Physiogn., 144. Socrates was the most nasty and unhandsom of all men living.
1709. Mrs. Manley, Secret Mem. (1720), II. 215. This spruce, affected, not unhandsome Lawyer had maid the Overture of his fair Person to Corinna.
1787. W. Thomson, trans. Hist. Gt. Brit., III. I. 121. Being generally well-shaped, and not unhandsome.
1826. Q. Rev., XXXIV. 331. It was hard to say whether he was more dunce or dwarf, more unlearned or unhandsome.
1887. Anne Elliot, Old Man’s Favour, II. i. A dark, unhandsome … face.
c. As adv. Unhandsomely.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., V. xii. 38. Such were these Hags, and so vnhandsome drest.
† 2. Unhandy, inconvenient, ill-adapted. Obs.
1548. Udall, etc., Erasm. Par. John, ix. 67. The night (perdy) is unhansome to woorke in.
1567. Palfreyman, Baldwin’s Mor. Philos., To Rdr. If I should haue ioyned the said number of sentences to the whole sum of this treatise, it should … haue seemed … the more vnhandsome of the reader to be carried.
1608. Topsell, Serpents, 270. These kindes of Spyders haue … shorter feete, and more vnhandsome to worke or finish any Webbes in their Loomes.
1690. Nesse, O. & N. Test., I. 451. A loose, discinct, and diffluent mind is unready, unnimble, unhandy, and unhandsome for Gods service.
† 3. Inexpert, unskillful. Obs.–1
1604. Shaks., Oth., III. iv. 151. I was (vnhandsome Warrior, as I am) Arraigning his vnkindnesse with my soule.
4. Unfitting, unbecoming, unseemly; discourteous, mean.
1645. Chas. I., in Ellis, Orig. Lett., Ser. I. III. 317. The treuth is, that his unhansom quitting the Castell and Forte of Bristol, hath inforced me to put him off those Commands.
1658. in Verney Mem. (1907), II. 83. Let mee conjure you not to doe a thing soe unhandsom, soe unmanly.
1729. Franklin, Ess., Wks. 1840, II. 18. It is barbarously unhandsome that one should be the butt of the company.
1799. Dundas, in Owen, Wellesley’s Desp. (1877), 700. It was an unhandsome proceeding upon their part.
1810. Sporting Mag., XXXVI. 234. What he thought unhandsome conduct on the part of the plaintiff.
1856. G. Wilson, Gateway’s Knowl. (1859), 96. To employ one’s tongue … to speak against itself is but unhandsome treatment of it.
b. Of expressions, language, etc.
1647. Clarendon, Hist. Reb., V. § 263. To countenance those unhandsome expressions … they had found a new way of exprobration.
1656. Hobbes, Six Lessons, Wks. 1845, VII. 331. I leave it to your consideration to whom belong … the unhandsome attributes you so often give me.
1704. Lond. Gaz., No. 3987/2. Their Commander, having used some unhandsome Expressions, was detained.
1732. Neal, Hist. Purit., I. 187. It was reported that some of the warmer Puritans had turned the Habits into ridicule, and given unhandsome language to them that wore them.
1814. Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, xxi. Lest it should betray her into any observations seemingly unhandsome.
c. Not generous or liberal.
1800. Mrs. Hervey, Mourtray Fam., III. 109. I’ll take her without a sixpence; which, let me tell you, I think no unhandsome offer.
† 5. Unfortunate; unhappy. Obs.
1633. Fletcher & Shirley, Night Walker, I. i. I know she loves him … Beyond the Indies in his mouldy Cabinets, But ’tis her unhandsome fate.
1657. W. Coles, Adam in Eden, To Rdr. Sundry unhandsome dysasters have happened to the ruine of many.
† 6. Unpleasant, nasty. Obs.
1660. Jer. Taylor, Ductor, I. v. rule 8 § 28. Like unhandsome and ill-tasted physick, it is against nature in the taking and in its operating.
