a. [UN-1 7. Cf. WANTHRIFTY a.]
1. Producing or bringing about no advantage, profit, or gain; tending to, resulting in, or marked by thriftlessness, waste, or extravagance; unprofitable, wasteful; harmful.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, IV. 1530. I-wys my dere herte trewe We may wel stele a-way as ye deuyse And fynde swyche vnthryfty weyes newe.
c. 1412. Hoccleve, De Reg. Princ., 2464. Rightwisnesse … out of this ile Purposeth fully for to fare & wende, So is our reule vnthrifty & vnthende.
c. 1470. Ashby, Active Policy, 681. I mene nat for vnthrifty Cowardise, whiche is in al Realmes abhominable.
1513. Douglas, Æneid, IX. x. 25. Quhat onthrifty God in sic foly Hes ȝou bywavyt heyr till Italy?
1529. Supplic. to King (E.E.T.S.), 40. Common players at all vnthryftye games.
1579. Northbrooke, Dicing, 60 b. Venerous people haue all their whole pleasance, Their vice to nourishe by this vnthriftie daunce.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., I. iv. 35. Full many mischiefes follow cruell Wrath;… Vnmanly murder, and vnthrifty scath.
1627. Sir R. Cotton, in Rushw., Hist. Coll. (1659), I. 471. The spending of much Munition, Victuals and Money,… is counted an unthrifty error.
1647. Clarendon, Hist. Reb., I. § 147. The Subject might be taught how unthrifty a thing it was, by too strict a detaining of what was His, to put the King as strictly to enquire what was his Own.
1652. Benlowes, Theoph., III. lxvii. Unthrifty death has spread where thriving peace did range.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., I. 226. Tough Thistles … kill’d the Corn, And an unthrifty Crop of Weeds was born.
1776. Adam Smith, W. N., V. ii. II. 473. They are all more or less unthrifty taxes that increase the revenue of the sovereign … at the expence of the commerce of the people.
1809. Malkin, Gil Blas, IX. vi. ¶ 3. The commerce of the eyes being so unthrifty, I had recourse to different agents.
1819. Scott, Leg. Montrose, ii. Having by unthrifty courses reduced a fair patrimony to a nonentity.
1869. Freeman, Norm. Conq., III. xii. 101. The rebuilding … had been possibly interrupted during the unthrifty reign of Malger.
† b. Of language: Unprofitable, idle. Obs.
c. 1440. Alph. Tales, 215. Oft sithes, with þer vnthrifti language, hym at had rewle of þaim þai provoked … to be angrie.
1467. Mann. & Househ. Exp. (Roxb.), 172. I wolde avysse ȝowe to sese … of ȝower onthreffety langwage.
2. Not thriving or flourishing; lacking vigor or promise in growth. (Cf. THRIFTLESS a. 1.)
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 367/2. Onthryfty, idem quod onthende [Ibid., Onthende, invalidus].
1484. Caxton, Fables of Æesop, III. iii. Thynke now, how thow arte lene and vnthryfty.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, b vij b. Euell meetis to make her vnthrefti.
1674. N. Fairfax, Bulk & Selv., Ep. Ded. Such an underly Shrub in Knowledge, and unthrifty Sucker in Philosophy as I am.
1709. Phil. Trans., XXVI. 450. The Cow was very unthrifty, for which they gave her Cow Physick.
1796. C. Marshall, Gardening, xii. (1813), 145. Consider the soil about an unthrifty tree.
1831. Youatt, Horse, viii. 122. The horse will lose flesh;… his coat will be unthrifty, and readily come off.
1846. Landor, Imag. Conv., Wks. II. 224/1. That … we should think it expedient to plant unthrifty thorns over bitter wells of blood.
transf. 1812. Examiner, 11 May, 292/1. Poor, ill-cultivated … soils, the early appearance of which was unthrifty, show … very thin.
b. Characterized by absence of well-being; indicative of unprosperousness.
c. 1400. Three Kings Cologne, 24. Þer was nothyng left bote … a litel cave vndir erþe and a litil vnthrifti hows tofore þe cave.
c. 1425. MS. Sloane 73, fol. 201. Whanne þi bagge chaungiþ clene out of þe rede colour … in to a manere of an vnþryfty wan colour.
a. 1450. Knt. de la Tour, 9. Atte the yongest doughtres hous it was turned up-so-doun, and alle unthrifti.
c. 1529. Latimer, in Foxe, A. & M. (1563), 1298/2. Whiche vnthriftye state that wee be borne vnto, is come vnto vs for oure owne desertes.
3. Loose or lax in respect of conduct, morals, or virtue; unchaste, wanton, profligate.
1388. Pol. Poems (Rolls), I. 272. Goddes dere halydayys ar noght, non observantur honeste; For onthryfty pley ys worght.
a. 1450. Knt. de la Tour, 30. The good women … that hathe not take the state of the unthrifti women that bene euelle women of her body.
c. 1485. Digby Myst. (1882), II. 558. Non shall in heuyn posses that be so vnthryfty.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. ccclxxxvi. 660. Suche rybaudes and vnthriftye people, as desyred nothynge but yuell and noyse.
1530. in W. H. Turner, Select. Rec. Oxford (1880), 80. Certen onthryfty persons brekyng of the Kyngs pesse.
a. 1571. Jewel, On Thess. (1583), 219. Withdrawe thy selfe from the companie, of such vnthriftie, and light, and suspected persons.
transf. c. 1400. Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton, 1483), II. lvii. 55. Thou madest me to lede a ful vnthryfty lyf.
1476. Stonor Papers (Camden), II. 7. Comaunde me to the Cloke [= clock], and pray hym to amend his unthryffte maners: ffor he strykes euer in vndew tyme.
1535–6. Act 27 Hen. VIII., c. 28 ¶ 1. Reformacion of suche unthrifty carnall and abhomynable lyvyng.
4. Not thrifty, economical, or frugal; careless or improvident of one’s means or substance; wasteful, extravagant, prodigal. (Cf. THRIFTLESS a. 3.)
1532. Hervet, Xenophon’s Househ., 59. The grounde doth best examyne, which be good, and whiche be vnthryfty husbandes.
1551. Robinson, trans. More’s Utopia, II. (Arb.), 87. The vnthrifty heire suffereth ye houses that his father buylded … to fall in decay.
1596. Bacon, Max. & Use Com. Law, II. (1635), 49. Or to be in hazard of undoing his house by unthrifty posterity.
1639. J. Taylor (Water P.), Part this Summers Trav., 18. Such an unthrifty Rascall as thou will never be worth such a halter, it cost me two pence.
1662. Hibbert, Body Divinity, I. 197. The wormes shall have his carkass, and unthrifty heires his estate.
1684. J. Goodman, Old Relig., 336. A querulous, uneasy, lean, hungry and unthrifty sort of people.
1780. S. J. Pratt, Emma Corbett (ed. 4), II. 108. I am one of those whom the world calls an unthrifty fellow.
1849. Hawthorne, Twice-told T., 213. Next comes a sledge, laden with wood for some unthrifty housekeeper.
1904. Verney Mem., II. 215. Before the wine arrives, this unthrifty host discovers that he does not require it.
fig. c. 1600. Shaks., Sonn., iv. Vnthrifty louelinesse why dost thou spend, Vpon thy selfe thy beauties legacy?
1659. O. Walker, Oratory, 109. This ingrafting … parenthesis, if it argues a good wit, it shews a weak and unthrifty Orator.
1682. Mrs. Behn, False Count, II. i. Should we be unthrifty in our loves, And for one moment’s joy give all away?
1703. Rowe, Fair Penit., II. i. Oh wherefore did I play th’ unthrifty Fool, And wasting all on others, leave myself Without one thought of Joy to give me comfort?
absol. 1876. Bancroft, Hist. U.S., II. xlii. 567. To insure an estate even to the sons of the unthrifty.
b. Prodigal or lavish of something; unsparing.
1620. Donne, Serm. (1640), 418. God is content to be told, that he is unthrifty, and prodigall of his servants lives.
1670. Cotton, Espernon, II. VI. 289. He was not altogether so unthrifty of his own Interest.
1712. Blackmore, Creation, V. 243. Of light unthrifty, and profuse of day, The ruin’d globe has spent his latest ray.
