Dictionary

unwarily en · ADV

Etymology

Etymology tree English unwary Middle English -ly English -ly English unwarily From unwary + -ly.

Meanings

1. In an unwary manner.
   • Not that licence and levity and unconsented breach of faith should herein be countnanc’t, but that some conscionable, and tender pitty might be had of those who have unwarily in a thing they never practiz’d before, made themselves the bondmen of a luckles and helples matrimony. 1643, J[ohn] M[ilton], The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce: […], London: […] T[homas] P[aine] and M[atthew] S[immons] […], →OCLC:
   • Th' Ambitious Youth, too Covetous of Fame, / Too full of Angells Metal in his Frame, / Unvvarily vvas led from Vertues vvays, / Made Drunk vvith Honour, and Debauch'd vvith Praiſe. 1681, [John Dryden], Absalom and Achitophel. A Poem, London: […] J[acob] T[onson] and are to be sold by W. Davis […], →OCLC, page 10:
   • One day as I vnvvarily did gaze / on thoſe fayre eyes my loues immortall light: / the vvhiles my ſtoniſht hart ſtood in amaze, / through ſvveet illuſion of her lookes delight. 1595, Edmunde Spenser [i.e., Edmund Spenser], “[Amoretti.] Sonnet XVI”, in Amoretti and Epithalamion. […], London: […] [Peter Short] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, signature B, verso:
   • The Friesland girls are, however, rather shy of these matches, and if they have unwarily been drawn into an engagement they try to get out of it if they possibly can. 1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 232:
   • [T]he rest of the morning was easily whiled away, […] in dawdling through the green-house, where the loss of her favourite plants, unwarily exposed, and nipped by the lingering frost, raised the laughter of Charlotte […] 1811, [Jane Austen], Sense and Sensibility […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] C[harles] Roworth, […], and published by T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:
   • For in a night the best part of my power, / As I upon advantage did remove, / Were in the Washes all unwarily / Devoured by the unexpected flood. c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene vii]:

Forms