Dictionary

unhallowed en · ADJ

Etymology

From Middle English unhalowyd; equivalent to un- + hallowed.

Meanings

1. Not hallowed or blessed; unholy.
   • The murderer was buried in unhallowed ground.
   • In the service of Venus ghastly and unhallowed crimes have been committed, men have braved tempestuous dangers, have renounced magnificence, power, and possessions, confirming the almost thaumaturgic virtue of ‘All for love.’ 1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page i:
   • Would the lass but consent to go abroad in the unhallowed place at this awful season and hour of the night, she was as firmly handfasted to the Devil as if she had signed a bond with her own blood; […] 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:
   • Gra[tiano]. O be thou damn’d, inexecrable dog, / And for thy life let iuſtice be accuſde; / Thou almoſt mak’ſt me wauer in my faith, / To hold opinion with Pythagoras, / That ſoules of Animals infuſe themſelues / Into the trunks of men: Thy curriſh ſpirit / Gouern’d a Wolfe, who, hang’d for humane ſlaughter, / Euen from the gallowes did his fell ſoule fleete, / And whilſt thou layeſt in thy vnhallowed dam, / Infuſde it ſelfe in thee: for thy deſires / Are woluiſh, bloody, ſtaru’d and rauenous. c. 1596–1598 (date written), W[illiam] Shakespeare, The Excellent History of the Merchant of Venice. […] (First Quarto), [London]: […] J[ames] Roberts [for Thomas Heyes], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:
   • It seemed a desecration and an unhallowed thing to touch that sleeping image of the live man by my side. 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, “The Dead and Living Meet”, in She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC, pages 238–239:

Forms

Deriveds

unhallowedness

Synonyms

unhallowed · unholy · mishallowed · impure · mishallowed · profane · profane · impious · common · impure

Translations (3)

sv ovigd (not hallowed or blessed) · grc βέβηλος (not hallowed or blessed) · ru без благославления (not hallowed or blessed)