Dictionary

unsonly en · ADJ

Etymology

From un- + sonly.

Meanings

1. Not sonly.
   • And the boy did not feel like he wanted to do such an unsonly deed as to spend his dad’s money to go up in an airship against his dad’s wishes. 1925 August 27, “Notes by the Editor”, in C. L. Ficklin, editor, The DeKalb County Herald, volume 59, number 5, Maysville, Mo., page [8], column 3:
   • Who fancies for one instant that Our Lord could be unsonly? Who could fancy that He was not a real, but, on the contrary, a bogus, a spurious Son or a bare sketch of a Son? Who can harbor such an irreverent thought as to fancy Our Lord denied, in the least, the Son’s adequate tribute of love, respect, obedience and assistance to His Mother? And what a tribute! for, who knew better than Jesus the privations, the sacrifices, the devotion and, consequently, the merits of Mary, His sweet Mother? Who could be swifter than He, the world’s Exemplar, to repay all as a grateful and worthy Son? 1898, Henry Aloysius Barry, “Our Lord, the Ideal Son”, in Salvation Through Mary, Boston, Mass.: Angel Guardian Press, page 177:
   • ‘Indeed, if the ruler does not rule and the minister does not minister, if fathers are unfatherly and sons unsonly, even if there is grain would I get to eat it?’ 1989, Angus Charles Graham, “The Breakdown of the World Order Decreed by Heaven”, in Disputers of the Tao: Philosophical Argument in Ancient China, Chicago, Ill.; La Salle, Ill.: Open Court Publishing Company, published 1997, →ISBN, section 1 (A Conservative Reaction: Confucius), subsection “Confucius and 20th-century Western philosophy”, page 25:
   • Sparse mementoes—a baby’s shoe, a formal and unsonly letter, and a sad poem—which were found in the mother’s room after her death Thursday night, under an automobile, show the tenacity with which she clung to this one tie. 1911 July 23, “Son to See Mother in Death. Only Relative Who Will Attend Funeral of Woman Auto Killed. Boy Wires from East. First Time in 22 Years He Will Gaze on Face of Devoted Parent.”, in The Chicago Sunday Tribune, volume LXX, number 30, Chicago, Ill., section “Life’s Hope to See Son”, page 6, column 2:
   • Now even this was not for the time enough to convert an unsonly son. 1918 June 20, “Best Editorial: National Topics as Discussed in Exchanges; War Savings Stamps—Their Significance”, in Burlington Daily News, volume 49, number 147, Burlington, Vt., page 4, column 3:
   • For that's who constituted this particular destructive force that was now doing such a good job of altering the scenery - our two fathers, who, while well within sight were well out of earshot of any disrespectful or unsonly jibes. 2014, Dermot O’Hanlon, “The Hollow”, in The Witch of Kilmara and Other Stories, Dublin: Original Writing Ltd., →ISBN, page 106:
   • I am sorry, Mother, if my leavetaking appeared unsonly and ungrateful, but should I have listened to you, at home I would be at this very hour, and probably I wuold^([sic]) have never known what lay outside the very realm of my own backyard, but as it is now, I am very thankful that you were kind enough to let me accompany the Cap’n on this voyage. 1930 July 20, “Road to Romance”, in The Commercial Appeal, volume CXX, number 20, Memphis, Tenn., chapter II, section “Writes Home”; section V, page 9, column 2:
   • Rather, he charges that the apostasy of his son is so great that it disturbs the "Ghost" of his deceased mother, who fears that her son's unsonly disloyalty will threaten the "white fame" of the reputation for fidelity she now enjoys. 1987, Gayle Shadduck, editor, A Critical Edition of Abraham Cowley's Davideis, New York, N.Y.; London: Garland Publishing, Inc., →ISBN, page 82:

Forms