Also 4 untak(e, 5–6 Sc. untane, 5 wntayne, etc. [UN-1 8 b, c, and 5 c. Cf. ON. útekinn, MSw. otakin.]
1. Not taken by force; not made prisoner; uncaptured.
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 1280. Riȝt fewe went a-wey vn-woundet or take.
c. 1400. Song of Roland, 89. He left vntak the toun, and to his tent ridis.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, V. 853. Lest he in strenth wntayne, This haill kynryk he wyll wyn.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. xciii. 115. Sir Robert Dartoyes was sore hurte, and scapedde hardely vntaken.
1577. Dee, General & Rare Mem., 4. Their Marchantlike Ships … may … pas quietly vnpilled, vnspoyled, and vntaken by Pyrates.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit., 499. Albeit the foulers doe … catch great store of young water-foule, yet … abundance … remaineth untaken.
1697. Dryden, Æneis, X. 1173. Untouch’d thy Arms, untaken be thy Sword.
1722. De Foe, Col. Jack (1840), 188. The most prosperous untaken thief.
1768–74. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), II. 562. A wise general will … leave no little stronghold untaken behind him.
1847. Mrs. A. Kerr, trans. Ranke’s Hist. Servia, 317. Whilst that [fort] remained untaken.
1870. Morris, Earthly Par., III. iv. 108. That he … scarce had trod Untaken on its floor.
2. Not taken, in other senses of the verb. Also const. from.
1456. Sir G. Haye, Law Arms (S.T.S.), 204. He levis it [sc. the consecrated wafer] untane for despising of the sacrament.
1474. Cov. Leet Bk., 410. In case the oportunite of this tyme shuld nowe … be vntaken or sett a-part.
1543–4. Act 35 Hen. VIII., c. 6 § 3. The Jurie is like to remayne untaken for defaulte of Jurors.
1586. T. B., La Primaud. Fr. Acad., I. 159. It is expedient sometime to leave untaken that which a man may lawfully take.
1600. Surflet, Countrie Farme, II. lxv. 412. The honie … which is left vntaken from them.
1613. Sherley, Trav. Persia, 4. I left no paines untaken to accelerat it [sc. a journey].
1735. Bolingbroke, Study Hist., i. (1752), 7. That they might leave no liberty untaken.
1880. ‘Ouida,’ Moths, xvii. Resolute to leave no pains untaken.
b. With advs., as away, down, off, up.
1483. Acta Audit., in Acta Dom. Conc., II. Introd. 120. The malis and fermes … to be untakin up be ony party.
1526. Tindale, 2 Cor. iii. 14. Vntill this daye remayneth the same coverynge vntaken awaye.
1539–40. Coverdale, in Money, Parish Goods Berks. (1879), p. vi. All the beams … remain still untaken down.
1562. Turner, Herbal, II. 33. If they [sc. lentils] be sodden with theyr shilles vntaken of.
1610. J. Dove, Advt. Seminaries, 3. That veile … untill this time hath continued untaken away.
1683. J. Reid, Scots Gard’ner (1907), 77. Bark … untaken off at the upper end.
1701. Col. Rec. Pennsylv., II. 43. All other lands that are mine untaken up.
1822. A. Cunningham, Tradit. T. (1887), 136. My supper shall be the untaken-down spirit.
1836. [see UNSTRENGTHENED].
c. With other constructions.
1583. A. Melvill, in J. Melvill’s Autob. & Diary (Wodrow Soc.), 155. Na obstinat Papist … hes it sufferit lang to converse amangs us, untean ordour withe.
1647. Clarendon, Hist. Reb., III. § 105. The King and Queen sate untaken notice of.
1904. E. Nesbit, Phœnix & Carpet, vii. 127. The four children found themselves at Waterloo Station quite untaken-care-of.
