unmentionableadj.n.
/(ˌ)ʌnˈmɛnʃn̩əbl/, /(ˌ)ʌnˈmɛnʃ(ə)nəbl/, U.S. /ˌənˈmɛn(t)ʃ(ə)nəbəl/ A. adj.
That cannot or should not be mentioned (at all or by name).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > taciturnity or reticence > [adjective] > unmentionable
unspeakable1568
unutterable1656
unmentionable1657
speechless1813
indiscussible1893
indiscutable1933
1657 R. Lawrence Gospel-separation 44 Now for the sad effects and evil consequences flowing from Divisions among Christians, I may say they are unmentionable.
1719 C. Mather Concio ad Populum 23 We may Adorn the Doctrine of God our Saviour, and avoid a thousand unmentionable Miseries.
1837 T. Carlyle French Revol. I. i. iii. 23 The..whole posthumous hope of Jesuitism, now hangs by the apron of this same unmentionable Woman.
1875 B. Jowett tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) V. 422 If any citizen be found guilty of any great or unmentionable wrong.
1929 Amer. Mercury Jan. 78/1 A Negro woman..was lynched with almost unmentionable brutality.
2002 B. Hoey Her Majesty xv. 237 Prince Philip had brought the previously unmentionable subject of the Queen's money into the public debate.
B. n.
1. colloquial.
a. In plural. Originally: breeches or trousers (cf. inexpressible n. 2). Now usually: (frequently humorous) underpants; underwear, especially women's.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > underwear > [noun]
linenc1330
napery1598
small clothes1625
linings1631
unders1731
underdress1788
unmentionable1791
unexpressible1810
underclothes1824
underclothing1835
unmentionabilities1840
underthings1864
underwear1872
under-gear1883
innerwear1904
scanty1928
smalls1934
long john1941
skivvy1945
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > clothing for legs > clothing for legs and lower body > [noun] > trousers
trouse1678
trousers1681
kicks1699
trousiesa1713
brogues1748
inexpressibles1790
unmentionable1791
et cetera1794
indescribable1794
kickseys1819
ineffables1823
indispensablesa1828
unimaginable1833
pantaloon1834
pants1835
inexplicables1836
never-mention-'ems1836
unwhisperable1837
results1839
sit-down-upons1839
sit-upons1839
unmentionabilities1840
innominablea1843
unutterables1843
trews1847
round-the-houses1857
unprintable1860
stovepipe1863
sit-in-ems1873
reach-me-downs1877
strides1889
rounds1893
long1898
kecks1900
rammies1906
trou1911
pants1970
1791 Argus 11 Apr. Mrs Montague declared they [sc. leather breeches] were truly and properly to be called unmentionables, as the prudes of the age had titled them.
1823 London Mag. Oct. 433/2 Liston, in a pair of unmentionables coming half-way down his legs.
1883 S. C. Hall Retrospect Long Life II. 318 The priest's unmentionables drying on a hedge.
1910 O. Johnson Varmint 221 Each [boy] was required to don upper and lower unmentionables.
1930 Amer. Speech 5 497 Silk nighties, panties, and undies in general..these articles were consistently grouped in the common speech as ‘unmentionables’.
2004 Which? Jan. 44/1 Ten pairs of jeans, 25 T-shirts, or 60 pairs gentlemen's unmentionables... that's roughly what you can squeeze into the standard 5kg washing machine.
b. A person, part of the body, or thing not to be mentioned (at all or by name). Chiefly in plural.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > taciturnity or reticence > [noun] > unmentionable topic(s)
unmentionable1826
touch-me-not1832
tacenda1843
1826 Mirror Lit., Amusem., & Instr. 28 Oct. 259/2 Two strangers sat down with us; a simple, quiet-looking Scot, and a young Southron, with white trapsticks, Anglice unmentionables.
1832 Athenæum 30 June 422/1 (advt.) On or before the 1st day of August..will be published, elegantly printed..,by the Great Unmentionable, The Poetical March of Humbug.
1928 Public Opinion 8 June 547/3 If you pinched a penny of his pay you passed beyond the pale, you became an unmentionable, you ceased to be a comrade.
1939 F. Thompson Lark Rise iii. 51 Those parts of the human body then known as ‘the unmentionables’.
1975 Nature 17 Jan. 149/3 The lowest grade, dirty, wet mixtures of plastic, paper and other organic unmentionables could at least provide heat.
1982 ‘P. Loraine’ Sea-change iii. vii. 168 The whole plan was based upon unmentionables.
2007 Independent 17 July 3/2 His unmentionables are, mercifully, covered by the world's largest pair of Y-Fronts.
2. With the. That which is unmentionable.
ΚΠ
1848 J. W. Carlyle Let. Jan. in New Lett. & Memorials (1903) I. 242 Her tendency towards the unmentionable is too strong for me to stay it.
1899 Literary World 25 Nov. 403/1 The reader is led along a pathway which just skirts the edge of the unmentionable and the indescribable.
1998 E. Imber-Black Secret Life Families (1999) i. 12 Many otherwise unexplainable behaviors are often ways to comment metaphorically on the unmentionable.
Derivatives
unˈmentionableness n.
ΚΠ
1846 A. J. W. Morrison tr. H. Ritter Hist. Anc. Philos. IV. xii. vi. 428 With this doctrine of the unmentionableness of God, the belief that in his nature he is unknowable, is naturally connected.
1917 Nation 25 Oct. 450/2 Of Baudelaire,..all the world is now made to know that his unmentionableness was mainly Stevenson's ‘inappropriate talk’.
2003 Past & Present Aug. 168 A thoroughly ‘wicked and vile’ plan, also linked to the unmentionableness of sodomy.
unˈmentionably adv.
ΚΠ
1836 Morning Post 9 Nov. He cursed unmentionably.
1915 Outing July 416/2 I'm unmentionably glad to see you.
2007 A. Theroux Laura Warholic xx. 281 He was up to all sorts of almost unmentionably weird sexual shenanigans.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1657