[UN-1 7. Cf. ON. úsœmilig-r (Icel. ósæmilegur, Da. usømmelig, Norw. usømeleg, etc.).]
1. Unbecoming, unfitting; indecent.
a. 1310. in Wright, Lyric P., viii. 31. Ofte in song y have hem set, that is unsemly ther hit syt.
1338. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 171. Þei did a foule trespas, it was vnsemly þing.
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 99. For soth it is vnsemely slike sawis of a prynce.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 367/1. On-semely, indecens, inconveniens.
1542. Hen. VIII., Declar. Scots, A iv. With that vnsemely dissimulation, we were not a lytell moued.
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. xlviii. § 4. Things in themselues vnholie or vnseemly we may not aske.
1645. Ussher, Body Div., 218. That no unseemely behaviour proceed from us.
1692. E. Walker, trans. Epictetus’ Mor., l. Nor would they anything unseemly say.
1738. Waterland, Chr. Sacr. Expl., Appendix i. 6. An unseemly Reflection upon … The Sacrifices of God.
1791. Cowper, Odyss., XVII. 243. A squalid beggar … in unseemly garb attir’d.
1824. Dibdin, Libr. Comp., 616. Shall … all editions be passed over in a sort of unseemly silence?
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xvii. IV. 39. The news … threw him into a passion … which hurried him into many foolish and unseemly actions.
1871. Freeman, Norm. Conq., xviii. IV. 155. To offer to William … an insult as unseemly as it was senseless.
absol. 1880. Sat. Rev., 7 Aug., 162/2. Partaking not a little of the unwise as well as of the unseemly.
b. Const. for († of, to) and with inf.
a. 1300. Body & Soul, in Map’s Poems (Camden), 335. Thouȝ art unsemly for to se, uncomli for to cussen suwete.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xxi. (Clement), 659. Sayand, vnsemly ware to se cristine man begare to be.
c. 1445. Pecock, Donet, 139. Ful vnseemely and vntreuli it is to seie þat [etc.].
1551. Recorde, Pathw. Knowl., I. Def. It shall not be vnsemely to call all suche shapes, formes and figures [etc.].
1581. Mulcaster, Positions, ii. 5. It is a thing not vnseemely for me to deale in.
1583. Stubbes, Anat. Abus., I. P vij. How vnhonest soeuer, or vnseemly of christian eares his argument be.
a. 1598. Rollock, 1 Thess. (1606), 183. Any thing, that is vnsetting, or vnseemlie to this Christian calling.
1667. Milton, P. L., X. 155. Unseemly to beare rule, which was thy part…, had’st thou known thy self aright.
1843. Lytton, Last Bar., VIII. vii. Unseemly it may be for one of your quality … to quit this place with me.
c. sb. An unseemly thing.
1654. R. Whitlock, Ζωοτομια, Pref. A 7. The Candid Interpreter of modest Endeavours, not Exacter of Impossibles, or unseemlies.
2. Uncomely, unhandsome.
c. 1340. Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 5023. Þair bodys sal alle unsemely be, And foul, and ugly, opon to se.
1390. Gower, Conf., I. 96. Which of alle kinde Of wommen is thunsemlieste.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. II. 55. The dupe dale and durke vnsemely to see to.
c. 1400. Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton), IV. xxxviii. (1859), 63. He found … an old vnsemely one. I ne can nought calle hyr lady.
a. 1513. Fabyan, Chron., VI. cxciv. 198. The Erle … prayed his wyfe … yt she wold … make her selfe as fowle and as vnsemely as she coude.
1581. Pettie, Guazzo’s Civ. Conv., II. (1586), 114. A man of unseemlie personage.
1683. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., Printing, xvii. ¶ 2. Their Faces stand closer or wider assunder, which is unseemly, when the Letter comes to be Printed.
1684. J. S., Profit & Pleas. United, 138. If you buy your Bees, Observe they be … Smooth and Shining; Rejecting the Rough and unsemly Ones.
1838. Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl., I. 394/2. Making the vessel frightfully crank and most unseemly to look at.
1843. G. P. R. James, Forest Days, ii. In other respects he was not an unseemly man.
1870. Dickens, E. Drood, i. He lies, dressed, across a large unseemly bed.
