a. [UN-1 7 b.]
† 1. Unequal in size; not of the proper or exact size. Obs.
1653. Blithe, Eng. Improver Impr., 197. Make your Horses and Oxen as equall as you can possibly; if they be unsizeable, your highest draw up your lowest, and your lowest draw down the highest.
1678. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., v. 78. [Do not let] the edge of your Hatchet cut too deep into the stuff, lest you … spoil your stuff by making it unsizeable.
1704. Lond. Gaz., No. 3888/3. The 35 Tun of unsizeable and crackt Brass Ordance.
1716. B. Church, Hist. Philip’s War (1867), II. 26. Bullets … so unsizeable that some of them were forc’d to make slugs while they were ingag d.
2. Of excessive size; too large or bulky. Obs.
1698. Fryer, Acc. E. India & P., 9. An unsizeable Sword to their Backs. Ibid., 162. I was made at by an unsizable Snake.
1710. Tatler, No. 241, ¶ 3. I am not without hopes, that by this method I shall bring some unsizable friends of mine into shape and breadth.
1736. T. Prince, Chron. Hist. New Eng., I. 250. If I now proceed to the End of this Second Section,… it will make the First Volume too unsizeable.
fig. 1755. Pitt, in Anecd. (1810), I. xii. 202. This unsizable project, impracticable and desperate as it is,… will … bring bankruptcy upon Great Britain.
1759. Franklin, Ess., Wks. 1840, III. 529. And who or what are these proprietaries? In the province, unsizable subjects and unsufficient lords.
3. Not grown to a proper size; immature.
1746. R. Griffiths, Ess. Conservacy Thames, 52. [They] annually destroy infinite Numbers of unsizeable Smelts.
1759. Act 33 Geo. II., c. 27 § 13. Any Spawn, Fry, or Brood of Fish, or any unsizeable Fish, or any Fish out of Season.
1833. J. Cornish, in Rep. Sel. Comm. Brit. Channel Fisheries, 148. Millions of young and unsizeable fish.
1887. Field, 24 Dec., 953/2. The keepers are … instructed to … prosecute the possessors of unsizeable pike.
Hence Unsizeableness.
1746. Lond. Mag., 324. Diversity of Weapons…, Unsizeableness of the Men, and Want of … Discipline in their Officers.
