ppl. a. [UN-1 8.]
1. Of persons: Not requested or asked; without being asked.
1412–20. Lydg., Chron. Troy, I. 2405. But more frely, with herte ful entere, Liste vnrequered on my wo to rewe.
1514. Barclay, Cyt. & Uplondyshman (Percy Soc.), 13. And unrequyred presentynge them, sayde she, O Lorde, these also my veray chyldren be!
1561. T. Hoby, trans. Castiglione’s Courtyer, II. (1577), H vj b. They … that rashly before a greate man enter into talk vnrequired.
1594. T. Bedingfield, trans. Machiavelli’s Florentine Hist. (1595), 172. Many times also vnrequired he did lend to those Gentlemen.
1634. Bp. Hall, Contempl., N. T., IV. xxxii. 266. So free, that he shall willingly undergoe it, when it is laid upon him; not so free as that he shall lay it upon himselfe, unrequired.
1748. Richardson, Clarissa (1811), III. 13. How artfully does he (unrequired) promise to observe the conditions?
2. Of things: Unasked for, unsought; not demanded or called for.
c. 1510. Barclay, Mirr. Gd. Manners (1570), G v. Desire thou none office nor cure…. If it unrequired be geuen vnto thee,… do not the same despise.
1559. in Tytler, Hist. Scot. (1864), III. 396. As I have found this your good mind unrequired,… I am bold to desire you … to continue in the same.
1687. Boyle, Martyrd. Theodora, x. 179. A young Lady, in whose Sex, Courage is … an unrequired, if not an altogether improper, Vertue.
1818. Scott, Rob Roy, xxxix. His unrequired presence prevented me from speaking freely to Syddall.
3. Not requisite; unnecessary.
1847. C. Brontë, J. Eyre, xxxv. He would make me sensible that it was a superfluity, unrequired by him.
1849. Eastwick, Dry Leaves, 163. The caution was unrequired.
