| 释义 |
unˈlawful, a. and adv.
[un-1 7, 11 b.]
1. Contrary to law; prohibited by law; illegal.
a1300Cursor M. 29516 Þat cursing tald vn-laghful es Þat ordir wantes and right-settnes O lagh. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. ix. xxvi. (Bodl. MS.), It was iholde vnlawefulle to goo more wey one þe seturdaie. c1430Syr Gener. (Roxb.) 3024 Here ye thes vnlawful reasouns Mi lord the Soudon seith vs among. 1475Cov. Leet Bk. 418 Vnlaufull & hurtfull ordenaunces made by the seid dyers. Ibid., Vnlaufull othes and wrytynges. 1515in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford (1880) 13 William Flemynge usith..unlawfull mesures, that is to seye, an unlawfull yerde. 1581[see next]. a1613Overbury A Wife, etc. (1614) B 4 b, Some lawfull things to be auoyded are, When they occasion of vnlawfull be. 1652Needham tr. Selden's Mare Cl. 449 Anie other prohibited places and unlawful Ports whatsoever, in the Kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. 1667–8Marvell Corr. Wks. (Grosart) II. 239 The unlawfull meetings of Papists and Non-conformists. 1805Southey Madoc in W. xv. 131 Becket did excommunicate thy sire For his unlawful marriage. 1891Farrar Darkn. & Dawn liv. A fresh edict..which declared Christianity to be an unlawful religion.
b. unlawful assembly: (see quots. 1581, 1841).
1485Rolls of Parlt. VI. 287/2 Maintenance, Imbracerie, Riotts, or unlawfull Assemblie. 1549Act Edw. IV, c. 5 (heading), An Acte for the punyshment of Unlawfull Assemblyes. 1581Lambarde Eiren. i. xix. 175 An Vnlawful Assembly is, ye company of three persons (or more) gathered togither to doe..an vnlawfull acte. 1651Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxii. 123 It is not a set number that makes the Assembly Unlawfull, but such a number [etc.]. 1664Act 16 Chas. II, c. iv. 9 Every person who shall..suffer any such Conventicle, unlawfull Assembly or Meeteing aforesaid to be held in his or her House. 1714Act Geo. I, c. 5. 5 Any such unlawful, riotous, and tumultuous Assembly. 1841Penny Cycl. XX. 17/1 It is an unlawful assembly when great numbers of people meet together with such circumstances of behaviour as to raise the fears of their fellow-subjects, and to endanger the public peace.
c. Of offspring: Illegitimate.
1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iii. vi. 7 All the vnlawfull issue, that their Lust Since then hath made betweene them. 1833Disraeli Cont. Fleming i. i, The unlawful children of ignorance and expediency.
2. Not permissible; contrary to moral standards or spiritual principles.
c1475Knight Curtesy 120 (Ritson), The knight..Which with your lady was talkinge Of love unlawfull pryvely. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 45 They profyte moche in y⊇ refreynynge..of vnlawfull pleasures. 1590Shakes. Com. Err. v. i. 51 Hath not else his eye Stray'd his affection in vnlawfull loue? 1601― All's Well iii. v. 73 May be the amorous Count solicites her In the vnlawfull purpose. 1641J. Jackson True Evang. T. iii. 206 That Anabaptisticall..tenet..that all warres were utterly unlawfull under the Gospel. 1751Johnson Rambler No. 178 ⁋4 The allurements of unlawful pleasure. 1827Lytton Falkland 81 How fearful, how selfish, how degrading, is unlawful love! 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. vii. II. 244 He cannot be accused of having deviated from the path of right in search..of unlawful pleasure.
3. Of persons: Not obeying the law; acting or ruling illegally.
1429Rolls of Parlt. IV. 344/1 Unlaweful hunters of Forestes, Parkes or Warennes. 1536Anne Boleyn in Harl. Misc. (1809) III. 62 Mine offence being so lawfully proved, your Grace is at liberty..to execute worthy punishment on me as an unlawful wife. 1581Satir. Poems Reform. xliv. 319 Moyses forbad ȝou to giue the nichbouris vyf To the vnlauchful husbandis cumpanie. 1603Shakes. Meas. for M. iv. ii. 16, I haue beene an vnlawfull bawd. 1643Prynne Sov. Power Parl. i. (ed. 2) 49 These Lawes..are the Acts of the..Courts themselves, which are lawfull; not of the usurping King, who is unlawfull. 1859Dickens T. Two Cities ii. i, The unlawful opener of a letter was put to death.
4. Contrary to rule; irregular.
1729T. Cooke Tales, etc. 208 The same Word in the Greek and Latin likewise has unlawful Degrees of Comparison. 1836J. R. Major Guide Grk. Trag. 117 In Iambic verse it is unlawful to divide the anapæst between two words.
†5. As adv. = next. Obs.
1477in Surtees Misc. (1890) 27 William Bacon holdes ij dogges unlawefull. |