adv. [UN-1 11. Cf. ON. úheppiliga (Norw. dial. uheppelege).]
1. Unfortunately, unluckily; by misfortune or mischance; regrettably.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, V. 937. But he was slayn … Vnhappyly at Thebes al to raþe.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 7104. Þen vnhappely hys hest he hastid to do, Þat angart hym after angardly sore.
c. 1430. Syr Gener. (Roxb.), 7351. Jewel vnhappelie hidre did hir bring, For now he hath an euel ending.
1558. in Feuillerat, Revels Q. Mary (1914), 251. I ame not able to ryde … by reason of a strayn which I have vnhappelie mett with.
1576. Lambarde, Peramb. Kent, 138 b. I delyver suche only as lying in my waye doe offer them selues, and suche as … I haue not vnhappily lighted vpon.
1609. Daniel, Civ. Wars, IV. lvii. Worc’ster (who had escap’d vnhappily His death in battel) on a Scaffold dies.
1647. Clarendon, Hist. Reb., I. § 51. That War in which the King was so unhappyly engaged against Spain.
1738. in Nairne, Peerage Evidence (1874), 42. Whereas John Nairne … was unhappily seduced … to join in the rebellion.
b. Used parenthetically or in loose construction.
a. 1586. Sidney, Arcadia, III. xxviii. She saw, as he lifted up his armes…, about one of them, unhappily, tied a garter.
1603. Shaks., Meas. for M., I. ii. 160. Licio. With childe, perhaps? Claudio. Vnhappely, euen so.
1649. Bounds Publ. Obed., 2. The first Treatise, in which (and the unhappilier, to give foundation to practicable errors) they … mistake principles.
1697. Bentley, Phal. (1699), 109. He had unhappily forgot it, when he writ this Epistle.
1728. Col. Rec. Pennsylv., III. 327. By being unhappily in the Company of those who committed it.
1796. Mme. D’Arblay, Camilla, III. 388. But to all that was thus most fascinating to others, she joined unhappily all that was most dangerous for herself.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., iv. I. 460. Unhappily the splendid qualities of John Churchill were mingled with alloy of the most sordid kind.
1890. Retrospect Med., CII. 340. But when this is unhappily not to be accomplished, a partial removal has obviously prolonged life.
2. With evil fortune or mischance; evilly, miserably, wretchedly.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xxxiv. (Pelagia), 179. I … Þat has nocht anerly my-selfe Sonkyne in syne vnhapely.
1390. Gower, Conf., I. 54. And ate laste unhappely This Hert his oghne houndes slowhe.
1412–20. Lydg., Chron. Troy, IV. 1489. Achilles axeþ how it is Amonge Grekis, & clerly how it stood…. ‘Certis,’ quod he, ‘ful vnhappily.’
1509. Barclay, Shyp of Folys (1570), 20. But these lewde caitifs…, liuing vnhappily, In shame they liue, and wretchedly they dye.
1596. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. I. 76. At the last maist unnaturally and unhappilie … fell out the lamentable slauchter of the saidis vmquhill James Stirling.
1605. Shaks., Lear, I. ii. 157. I promise you, the effects he writes of, succeede vnhappily.
a. 1658. Lovelace, Poems (1904), 134. Ah Victory! unhap’ly wonne, Weeping and Red is set the Sun.
1667. Milton, P. L., X. 917. I … unweeting have offended, Unhappilie deceav’d.
1779. Warner, in Jesse, Selwyn & Contemp. (1844), IV. 300. The giddy girl who married unhappily.
1781. Cowper, Charity, 632. If, unhappily deceiv’d, I dream, And prove too weak for so divine a theme.
b. Unsuccessfully.
1533. Bellenden, Livy, I. xv. (S.T.S.), I. 86. Þe Sabynis faucht vnhappely in þis last battall.
1654. trans. Martini’s Conq. China, 55. So as if any fought unhappily,… the Governors hardly ever escaped alive.
1831. Scott, Ct. Rob., xiii. One of those simple persons who manage so unhappily what they mean for civilities, that those to whom they are addressed receive them frequently in another sense.
† 3. Mischievously, maliciously. Obs.
1509. Hawes, Past. Pleas., XVIII. (Percy Soc.), 85. What man on live can use suche governaunce … but right pryvely Behinde his backe some sayth unhappely?
1549. Chaloner, Erasm. on Folly, G iij. They thynke unhappeliest in their herts, whan they speake smotheliest with their toungs.
1660. J. S., Andromana, III. iii. I know you always talk’d unhappily, And if your heart dare do what’s ill, I know it can well teach your tongue excuses.
† b. Unfavorably. Obs.–1
1613. Shaks., Hen. VIII., I. iv. 89. You are a Churchman, or Ile tell you Cardinall, I should iudge now vnhappily.
† 4. Unpleasantly near the truth; shrewdly. Obs.
1577–82. Breton, Toyes Idle Head, Wks. (Grosart), I. 33/2. The iust occasion why, God knowes: and I, perhappes, can gesse vnhappily.
1584. Lyly, Campaspe, V. iv. Alex. Think you not, Hephestion, that she wold faine be commaunded? Hep. I am no thought catcher, but I gesse vnhappily.
1602. Shaks., Ham., IV. v. 13. Which … Indeed would make one thinke there would be thought, Though nothing sure, yet much vnhappily.
† 5. Unfitly; unskillfully. Obs.
1602. Breton, Wonders worth Hearing, To Rdr. A few odde Wonders, that being vnhappily set downe, might passe away a little idle time to looke on.
1704. Swift, T. Tub, Pref. My genius being conceived to lie not unhappily that way. Ibid. (1726), Gulliver, III. iv. On the contrary, I never knew a soil so unhappily cultivated.
6. Without happiness or pleasure.
1687. Miége, Gt. Fr. Dict., II. He lives very unhappily with her, il vit fort mal avec elle.
1814. Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, ii. Fanny … grew up there not unhappily among her cousins.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, xxxvi. A village … where little Rawdon passed the first months of his life, not unhappily, with a numerous family of foster-brothers.
