Unskill

[UN-¹ 12 and 4 b. Cf. ON. and Icel. úskil, óskil (Norw. dial. uskil, etc., MSw. oskiäl, etc., Sw. oskäl, MDa. uskæl, Da. uskel, in sense 1 or 1 b).]

  † 1.  Improper or foolish conduct; folly; wrong-doing; wrong. Obs.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 65. Lauerd forȝef us ure unskile, and alswa we alle oðre wile.

c. 1275.  XI Pains Hell, 58, in O. E. Misc., 148. [He] þat … nolde leten his fleysses wil, Ac folewede al þat wes vnskil.

c. 1300.  Cursor M., 201. How Iuus wit þer gret vnschill Wend his vprisyng to dill.

1303.  R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 8798. Ȝyf þou dedyst euer þat vnlawe,… Þou hast synned yn moche vnskyl.

c. 1420.  Sir Amadace (Camden), lxvii. I wille do the no vnskille, Thou schalt dele hit atte thi wille, The godus that here now is.

a. 1500.  Ratis Raving, I. 1033. Bot always serf hyme elyk,… Bot gif he do the al wnskill.

  † b.  Want of reason; unreasonableness. Obs.

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Sel. Wks., II. 415. If we taken hede to þingis þat touchen þis staat, we moun fynde fulli unskil in ech of hem.

a. 1500.  Ratis Raving, I. 1269. It louis weill to leif be wyll, And callis resone oft vnskill.

  † 2.  With unskill: a. Wrongly, wrongfully, improperly. (Also with at.) Obs.

c. 1200.  Ormin, 427. Swa we don itt wiþþ unnskill Þatt itt maȝȝ anngrenn oþre.

c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 3506. Ne slo ðu noȝt wið hond ne wil, Ne rend, ne beat noȝt wið vn-skil.

c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 12643. Ȝif y ha lore hit at vnskyle, Y schal hit wynne eft when God wyle.

c. 1330.  King of Tars, 712. So long i wis hit is agon, I have ilived in prison of ston, With wrong and muchel unskille.

  † b.  Unreasonably, excessively. (Also with till, to.) Obs.

c. 1220.  Bestiary, 433. He bit us don ure bukes wille, eten and drinken wið unskil.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 26991. Hop es god at hald wit houe, Bot til [Fairf. to] vnskil noght worth a gloue.

13[?].  Guy Warw., 514. After þe hete me comeþ a chele, Þat me greueþ wiþ vn-skele.

  3.  Lack of skill; inexpertness; † ignorance (of something). Now arch.

1565.  Martial, in Harding, Answ. to M. Ivelle’s Challenge, A 3 b. Where the faultes of the printers be infinite for the vnskill of the language.

1576.  Lambarde, Peramb. Kent, 293. I … doe preferre plaine vnskill and ignorance, before vaine lying and presumptuous arrogance.

1598.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. i. I. Eden, 276. That even light Pirrhon’s wavering fantasies Reave him the skill his un-skill to agnize.

1611.  Florio, Inarte, vnartnesse, ignorance, vnskill.

1905.  J. Brierley, Eternal Relig., 100. Hence more and more the idea will prevail that ignorance, unskill in things,… is in itself a kind of lower morality.