Unsufferable

a. and adv. Now rare or Obs. [UN-¹ 7 b, 11 b, 5 b.]

  1.  Incapable of being suffered with patience or equanimity; not to be tolerated or endured; going beyond all natural limits: a. Of injuries, wrongs, etc.

a. 1325.  MS. Rawl. B. 520, fol. 31 b. We undoinde so muche unsufferable luere of oure poeple … stabblissez ant ordeinez [etc.].

c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 367/2. On-sufferabyl, or ontollerable, intollerabilis, insufferabilis.

c. 1449.  Pecock, Repr., III. xvii. 395. Ellis vnsufferable myscheuys of hasty domes wolde ofte falle.

1533.  Bellenden, Livy, I. xviii. (S.T.S.), I. 100. Þe haterent and vnsufferabil tyrannye of kingis.

1597.  Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. xxx. § 3. We know no reason wherefore any man should yet imagine it an vnsufferable euill.

1621.  in Foster, Eng. Factories Ind. (1905), I. 301. To call them to accompt … for these unsufferable wrongs.

1660.  Jer. Taylor, Ductor, I. ii. rule 8 § 30. The injustice may be frequent and unsufferable.

1725.  Pope, Odyssey, II. 69. Unsufferable wrong Cries to the Gods, and vengeance sleeps too long.

1763.  Ld. Halifax, in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. I. 361. The Outrages … are most abominable and unsufferable.

  b.  Of actions, conduct, qualities, etc.

1548.  Geste, Pr. Masse, D ij. What an vnsufferable mockedge is this … of God.

1582–3.  Reg. Privy Council Scot., III. 541. A power strange and unsufferabill to be in the persoun of ony inferior subject.

1608.  Machin, Dumb Knt., V. I 3. Thine adulterat … lust, Shamefull and grosse and most vnsufferable.

1651.  Biggs, New Disp., ¶ 250. Unsufferable fallacies … are couched under these four.

1711.  Steele, Spect., No. 38, ¶ 10. The unsufferable Affectation you are guilty of in all you say and do.

1720.  Swift, Lett. to Yng. Clergyman, Wks. 1755, II. 12. The common unsufferable cant of taking all occasions to disparage the heathen philosophers.

a. 1774.  Goldsm., trans. Scarron’s Com. Romance (1775), I. 27. Upon these vast accomplishments, he had built an unsufferable degree of pride.

  c.  Of persons. Also absol.

1382.  Wyclif, 2 Macc. viii. 5. Machabeus … was maad vnsuffreable to heithen men; forsothe the wrath of the Lord is conuertid in to mercye.

c. 1450.  Holland, Houlate, 926. Thir birdis ilkane Besocht Natur to cess that vnsufferable.

c. 1470.  Henry, Wallace, I. 267. Unsouerable are thir pepille of Ingland.

1586.  T. B., La Primaud. Fr. Acad., I. 112. The more that an ignorant man is lift up unto some excellencie of dignitie…, the more unsufferable he is.

1619.  A. Newman, Pleas. Vis. (1840), 49. All know (vnsufferable Man) they [sc. women] are … beyond compare.

1678.  Mrs. Behn, Sir P. Fancy, I. i. The pertest unsufferable fool he ever saw.

  2.  Too distressing, severe, or painful to be borne; going beyond the limits of physical endurance. a. Of outward things.

a. 1340.  Hampole, Psalter, cxlvii. 6. As wha say, vnsufferabil ware þat kald, if he lesid it noght.

1382.  Wyclif, Num. xi. 10. Thanne Moyses herde the puple wepynge bi meynees,… and to Moyses it was seen a thing vnsuffrable [L. intoleranda].

1395.  Purvey, Remonstr. (1851), 22. Thei wolen putten to a man confessid to hem, greuouse chargis and vnsuffrable.

1544.  Betham, Precepts War, I. cxxiii. G ij b. They were ashamed, that they dydde not abyde suche lyke labours, yea and moche more vnsufferable.

1562.  Turner, Baths, 8. An unsufferable raynye, windye, or colde weather.

1613.  Purchas, Pilgrimage (1614), 720. The high ridges … are vnsufferable for cold.

1658.  T. Wall, Charact. Enemies Ch., 53. [To] lie under the … dreadful apprehensions, or unsufferable strokes of divine wrath.

1729.  Savage, Wanderer, II. 50. Like noon-tide summer-suns the rays appear, Unsuff’rable, magnificent and near!

1742.  Lond. & Country Brew., III. (1743), 202. An unsufferable, ill palated oily Juice, that will spoil all the Liquor.

1869.  Spurgeon, Treas. David, Ps. xviii. 6. The king heard it in his palace of light unsufferable.

  b.  Of pain, grief, fear, etc.

c. 1374.  Chaucer, Boeth., III. pr. vii. 79. Grete sekenesse and … grete sorwes vnsuffrable.

1388.  Wyclif, Judith xiv. 17. Vnsuffrable drede and tremblyng felde doun on hem.

a. 1425.  trans. Arderne’s Treat. Fistula, etc., 40. Þe pacient feleþ as it war vnsufferable ychyng.

c. 1425.  St. Christina, xvi., in Anglia, VIII. 125. She was stired of god vnto an vnsufferabil þriste.

c. 1445.  Pecock, Donet, 71. For eesing of his vnsuffrable fleischli freelte.

a. 1589.  Palfreyman, Baldwin’s Mor. Philos. (1600), 140 b. Conscience … worketh … vnsufferable torments,… to the condempnation of the vngodly.

1595.  Clerke, Polimanteia, S j b. To my vnsufferable and vnpitied griefe.

1639.  S. Du Verger, trans. Camus’ Admir. Events, 301. A torture unsufferable unto this young gentlewoman.

1700.  Blackmore, Job, 138. My fullness gives unsufferable pain.

1722.  De Foe, Hist. Plague (1754), 261. The unsufferable Torment of the Swellings.

  † 3.  Incapable of self-restraint. Obs.^–1

1387.  Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), V. 61. Þis was a swiþe evel man,… and he was unsuffrable of leccherie [L. libidinis impatientissimus].

  † 4.  Not involving suffering. Obs.^–1

1548.  Geste, Pr. Masse, C vj. They greuously erre, who hold opinion y^t our faultes ar pardoned through theyr vnsufferable & vnbloudy sacrificing of christes bodi.

  † 5.  Incompatible. Obs.^–1

a. 1586.  Sidney, Arcadia, III. x. Eternity, and Chaunce are things unsufferable together.

  † 6.  As adv. = UNSUFFERABLY adv. 1. Obs.

c. 1420.  Prose Life Alex., 76. Than commanded Alexander þat þay schuld make many fyres. For it began for to be vnsufferable calde.

1683.  Moxon, Mech. Exerc., Printing, xi. ¶ 23. Sometimes the Inck proves so unsufferable Pale, that [etc.].

  Hence Unsufferableness.

1611.  Florio, Inpatibilita, vnsufferablenesse.

1677.  Horneck, Gt. Law Consid., iv. 175. His passions … represent to his mind … the unsufferableness of the disgrace.

1679.  Kid, in Hickes, Spirit of Popery (1680), 2. There is something in a Christians condition, that can never put him without the reach of unsufferableness.