Dictionary

ungain en · ADJ

Etymology

From Middle English ungain, ungayn, ungein, equivalent to un- + gain (“suitable; convenient”). See ungainly.

Meanings

1. (UK, dialectal, obsolete) ungainly; clumsy or awkward
   • an ungain, dull sort of a body, 1786, John Burgoyne, The Heiress:
   • she take th ' ungain'st weas she can c. 1607–1611, Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, “Cupid’s Revenge”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1679, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
   • Tom's hard, ungain, scrag-of-mutton frame; wilted, apple-john face (he always looked twenty years older than he really was), his long spider legs, as thick at the ankles as at the hips, and perfectly straight all the way down 1907, John Nyren, The Hambledon Men:
2. (UK, dialectal, obsolete) troublesome or inconvenient
   • to know a person if one leaves but a quart in a hogshead, it's two pints too much. That's my notion. But, Sir, that was but an ungain business at 'Squire Monckton's t'other morning. Every body was no-how, as one may say. 1782, Frances Burney, Cecilia:

Forms

Deriveds

ungainness · ungainly