Middle English Dictionary Entry

unkīnd(e adj.
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Entry Info

Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)

1.
(a) Not in accord with the regular course of nature, unnatural, bizarre; of weather: unseasonable, unusual; of an act: against human nature; of an animal’s behavior or actions: uncharacteristic, abnormal; of a bird: unnatural in its behavior; (b) deficient or impaired with respect to the qualities distinctive of one’s kind or ancestry, not true to kind, degenerate; of branches or suckers: barren; parasitic; also fig.; ~ sed, seed productive of a bad crop;—used fig.; waxen ~, of the earth: ?to degenerate, become corrupt; (c) injurious to health, unwholesome; chiefly med. & physiol. of a bodily fluid: harmful, unnatural; putrid, corrupt; ~ cold, a lack of normal bodily warmth, morbid chilling in a part of the body; ~ hete, an unhealthy warmth in the body or a part of the body such as that resulting from fever, inflammation, or putrefaction; (d) ~ hete, the improper or excessive application of heat during the process of ironworking.
2.
(a) Contrary to the natural moral law, immoral; of sexual desire, behavior, acts: perverted, indecent; incestuous; also, as noun: one who commits incest [quot. a1393, 1st occurrence]; (b) wrongful, improper.
3.
(a) Alien, foreign, not native; of a name: strange, unfamiliar; ~ man, a foreigner; (b) unaristocratic; of ~ blod, of low birth, baseborn.
4a.
(a) Lacking natural affection for or loyalty to one’s offspring or kin, indifferent to ties of blood; also, hostile or violent in violation of a blood relationship; ~ blod; (b) lacking natural affection for or loyalty to a parent, undutiful; of an action: unbefitting a son or daughter, unfilial; also [quot. a1400(c1303), 1st occurrence], as noun: ?an unfilial child; ?unfilial children; ~ blod, unfilial offspring; (c) lacking natural affection or concern for or loyalty to a spouse; of a wife: undutiful toward her husband, fractious; of a husband, husband’s pride: lacking proper respect for his wife, indifferent to his wife’s feelings; also, as noun: an undutiful wife [last quot.]; (d) untrue to a lover, indifferent in despite of protested love, unappreciative of devoted love; of a lover’s deed: faithless; ?also, as noun: a cruel deceiver [1st quot.]; ~ to love; (e) of a supposed friend: disloyal, treacherous, untrue; indifferent or unkind in violation of a bond of friendship; (f) lacking natural affection for or loyalty toward one’s country, unpatriotic; also, disloyal to one’s sovereign or leader, traitorous, rebellious; also used with diminished force as a term of abuse; of an action: undertaken in despite of the king, treasonable; also, as noun: traitors [quot. a1450]; (g) of a lord, curate, master, etc.: lacking proper concern for one’s charges, unsolicitous; negligent in carrying out one’s responsibility to subordinates, derelict in duty; (h) lacking in natural feeling for oneself, indifferent to one’s own best interests; also, ?lacking proper spirit, unnaturally complacent or passive [1st quot.]; (i) lacking natural affection or regard for one’s own kind; devoid of proper feeling for one’s fellow human beings or fellow Christians, without empathy.
4b.
(a) Lacking natural or proper reverence or love for God, Christ, a pagan deity; indifferent to or disdainful of God, impious, faithless; (b) rebellious against God or Christ, sinful; (c) stubborn, obstinate, intransigent; unreceptive (to virtue); with inf.: unwilling (to acknowledge God).
5.
(a) Ungrateful, unappreciative [some quots. difficult to distinguish from the various subsenses of 4a. and 4b.]; also, not properly thankful (to sb., God, Christ, etc.); ungrateful (for sth.); as noun: an ingrate; also, those who are ungrateful; ~ blod, an ungrateful child; (b) lacking in charity, ungenerous, stingy.
6.
(a) Harsh, cruel, unkind; ungracious; of God, Christ: not benevolent; of Fortune: ill-disposed (to sb., a people), unfavorable; of a vice: pernicious, wicked; (b) bestial, savage; (c) unchivalrous; villainous, vile; also used with diminished force as a term of abuse; ~ blod, a vile fellow; (d) rude, discourteous; (e) of weather: inclement; of a storm: violent, severe; of heat, cold, etc.: harsh; also, damaging (to sth.).