| 释义 |
unconˈstrained, ppl. a.
[un-1 8.]
1. Not constrained or forced; not acting under constraint or compulsion.
c1386Chaucer Doctor's T. 61 And of hir owene vertu vnconstreyned She hath ful ofte tyme syk hire feyned. 1513Douglas æneid vii. v. 25 Vnconstrenyt, nocht be law bound thairtill, Bot be our inclinatioun and fre will Just and equale. 1548Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. John xix. 108 b, The luste to reuenge was so greate, that vnconstrayned they adiudged themselues to perpetuall bondage. a1614Donne βιαθανατος (1664) 201 He dyed, as the same man sayes, with the same zeale as Christ, unconstrained. 1665Glanvill Def. Van. Dogm. 27 A free and unconstrained will. a1704T. Brown Sat. agst. Woman Wks. 1730 I. 56 Unconstrain'd by want of choice they lie Wallowing in all the filth of boundless luxury. 1827Pollok Course T. ii. 145 Making His soul an offering for sin,..By doing, suffering, dying, unconstrained. 1831Scott Ct. Rob. xxviii, Let me find my way to the grave, unnoticed, unconstrained.
†b. Without exertion. Obs.—1
1539Elyot Cast. Helthe (1541) 55 b, If he whiche often⁓tymes unconstrayned hath had great sieges [= evacuations], be sodeynly stopped.
2. Not done, made, given, etc., under constraint or compulsion; free, spontaneous.
1535Act 27 Hen. VIII, c. 25 The voluntary and vnconstreined almes & charitie of the parishens. a1600Hooker Two Serm. Jude i. §12 What meaneth this Apostasie and vnconstrained departure? Why doe His seruants so willingly forsake him? 1632Lithgow Trav. i. 7 Thy voluntary wandring, and vnconstrayned exyle. 1656Bramhall Replic. iii. 116 These Acts were unconstrained. a1704T. Brown Let. Dissent. Preacher Wks. 1711 IV. 191 Thanks must be Voluntary; not only unconstrain'd, but unsolicited. 1770Gibbon Misc. Wks. (1814) IV. 504 The unconstrained workings of nature.
3. Free from constraint or embarrassment; natural.
1704Moderat. Displ. iv, So Free, so Unconstrain'd in his Address. 1707Sir W. Hope New Method Fencing vii. 205 In a Good Guard, the whole Body should be easy, and as much unconstrain'd as possible. 1759Sterne Tr. Shandy ii. xvii, He looked frank,—unconstrained,—something assured,—but not bordering upon assurance. 1818Scott Rob Roy ix, Dismissing from his countenance some part of the hypocritical affectation of humility..and saying, with a more frank and unconstrained air [etc.].
4. Not subject to restraint; unrestrained.
1796F. Burney Camilla IV. 278 The unconstrained freedom with which he was empowered to have more books upon the table. 1891Farrar Darkn. & Dawn xlvii, The intercourse which the prisoner could hold with any who came to visit him was unconstrained.
Hence unconˈstrainedness.
1656Earl of Orrery Parthen. iii. iv. 12 He acquitted him⁓selfe with so much grace and unconstrainednesse in the dance. |