unchildv.
1. To deprive of children; to make childless.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > kinsman or relation > parent > parenthood > [verb (transitive)] > deprive of children
unchild1605
1605 W. Alexander Alexandræan Trag. iv. ii First orphan'd, widdow'd, and vnchilded last, A daughter, wife, and mother all accurst.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Coriolanus (1623) v. vi. 152 Though in this City hee Hath widdowed and vnchilded many a one. View more context for this quotation
1791 W. Cowper tr. Homer Iliad in Iliad & Odyssey I. xxii. 48 He hath unchilded me of many a son.
2. To deprive of the status of a child or of the qualities peculiar to childhood.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > adult > make adult [verb (transitive)]
unchild1615
time1650
1615 Bp. J. Hall Contempl. III. O.T. x. 211 Whosoeuer now dispose of themselues without their Parents, they doe wilfully vn-child themselues.
1864 R. Browning Mr. Sludge in Wks. (1888) VII. 230 In brief, she may unchild the child I am.
Derivatives
unˈchilding adj.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > kinsman or relation > parent > parenthood > [adjective] > childless > making
unchilding1876
1876 G. M. Hopkins Wreck of Deutschland xiii, in Poems (1967) 55 Wiry and white-fiery and whirlwind-swivellèd snow Spins to the widow-making unchilding unfathering deeps.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1921; most recently modified version published online September 2021).
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