A. adj. 1. Transcending utterance; inexpressible, ineffable; = UNSPEAKABLE a. 1.
a. 1586. Sidney, De Mornay (1587), 33. The vnvtterable cause which Plato teacheth vs vnder two names.
1621. Fletcher, Thierry & Theod., II. i. He is, Sir, The most unutterable coward that e’er nature Blest with hard shoulders.
1652. Benlowes, Theoph., V. lxxviii. That most unutterable blaze Of Heav’n’s all-luminating rays.
1746. Hervey, Refl. Flower Garden, 115. One transient Glimpse of those unutterable Beatitudes would captivate our souls.
1771. Beattie, Minstrel, I. xliv. Hags, that suckle an infernal brood, And ply in caves th’ unutterable trade.
1806. J. Beresford, Miseries Human Life, IV. xxxii. A barrow or cat’s meat, the unutterable contents of which employ your eyes and nose.
1831. G. P. R. James, Phil. Augustus, I. vi. The unutterable multitude of weathercocks, with which every pinnacle of the castle was adorned.
1873. Proctor, Expanse Heav., 304. By unutterable pace the light swept to them.
absol. 1896. Edin. Rev., Oct., 302. The vision of the utterable passes into the vision of the unutterable.
b. Of sorrow, anger, or other emotion.
1658. T. Wall, Charact. Enemies Ch., 9. The carnal delights which he has promised you will turn to unutterable dolours of soul.
1697. Congreve, Mourn. Bride, IV. vii. What means these Tears, but Grief unutterable?
1707. E. Smith, Phædra & Hippolitus, IV. 50. How it wounds my Soul! To think of your unutterable Sorrows!
1766. Goldsm., Vicar, xxix. Our bliss shall be unutterable.
1832. Coleridge, Lett. (1895), 762. Yours, with unutterable and unuttered love and regard.
1880. ‘Ouida,’ Moths, II. vi. 185. She turned her face with unutterable scorn … on it.
c. In the phr. unutterable things.
a. 1711. Ken, Psyche, Poet. Wks. 1721, IV. 299. Bless’d Paul … was … heav’nly things unutterable taught. [Cf. 2 Cor. xii. 4.]
1727. Thomson, Summer, 848. They … talked the flowing Heart, Or sigh’d and look’d unutterable Things!
1791. W. Maxwell, in Boswell, Johnson (1831), I. 381. Jacob Behmen, whom Law alleged … to have seen unutterable things.
1818. Byron, Juan, I. xc. Juan wander’d by the glassy brooks, Thinking unutterable things.
1873. Black, Pr. Thule, ii. Sheila … rarely speaks, but looks unutterable things with her soft … eyes.
2. a. That may not be uttered or spoken.
1656. Cowley, Davideis, IV. 260. Witness th’ unutterable Name, there’s nought Of private ends into this question brought.
1708. Watts, Horæ Lyricæ (1727), 161. My Tongue with a noble Aim Attempts th’ unutterable Name, But faints.
1883. Whitelaw, Sophocles, Ajax, 773. Dread words, unutterable, back he flung.
b. Incapable of being uttered; unpronounceable.
1852. Jrnl. Ethnol. Soc. (1854), III. 271. The peculiarly harsh, deep-toned guttural, unknown and unutterable to the European.
1867. Whitney, Lang., iii. 95. Sounds … in the alphabet of one tongue which are unutterable by the speakers of another.
B. sb. 1. An unutterable thing.
1788. J. Newton, in W. Roberts, H. More (1835), II. 126. The Apostle Paul … was rapt into the third heavens, saw invisibles, and heard unutterables.
1797. Mrs. A. M. Bennett, Beggar Girl, II. 51. Rosa did not faint or betray any of the unutterables some of our young readers may expect.
2. pl. Trousers. (Cf. UNMENTIONABLE sb.)
1843. Mrs. Romer, Rhone, Darro, etc. I. 322. His … short unutterables, garnished down the seams with silver buttons.
1860. Slang Dict., 242.
Hence Unutterableness.
1681. H. More, Exp. Dan., iii. 75. The ineffableness and unutterableness of the admirable union … of the Humane nature with the Divine.
1890. J. Pulsford, Loyalty to Christ, I. 162. With what unutterableness of meaning, we breathe the prayer!
