Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Not endowed or furnished with a portion or fortune.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • To the astonishment, and perhaps to the envy, of the fashionable world, those two unportioned young women made the most splendid matches of the season.

    Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 55, No. 340, February, 1844 Various

  • He'd tax every male in the land, according to his income or wage, to say nothing of the rich women, and keep every last one of the unportioned in idleness rather than risk the downfall of male supremacy in the world.

    The Sisters-In-Law Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton 1902

  • Whitby being one of the oldest and grandest foundations was sure to be inaccessible to a high-born but unportioned girl, and Grisell in her sense of loneliness saw nothing before her but to become an anchoress, that is to say, a female hermit, such as generally lived in strict seclusion under shelter of the Church.

    Grisly Grisell Charlotte Mary Yonge 1862

  • Mrs. Hunt had been sustained in her endurance by a largess that now and then fell upon her eldest son, and by the hope that ultimately her brother's fortune would descend to her unportioned children.

    Tales and Sketches 1835

  • You will find all my papers relative to the estates of my wards, gentlemen, in the hands of my banker in London; and you will also find there my will, Edward, by which you will learn that Cicely has not come to your arms an unportioned bride.

    The Pilot James Fenimore Cooper 1820

  • He had been for some years a widower, and was the father of two daughters, the surviving children of five, by an unportioned, amiable, and by him, ever-lamented wife.

    Romance Readers and Romance Writers: a Satirical Novel 1810

  • The wealthy part of the community who neglected to educate their female offspring, at this seminary of learning, should pay a fine, which should be appropriated to the maintenance of the unportioned scholars.

    Letter to the Women of England, on the Injustice of Mental Subordination 1799

  • The wealthy part of the community who neglected to educate their female offspring, at this seminary of learning, should pay a fine, which should be appropriated to the maintenance of the unportioned scholars.

    Letter to the Women of England, on the Injustice of Mental Subordination 1799

  • Lord Allen's affairs being much deranged, he became now as anxious to prove the marriage with the wealthy heiress, as he had formerly been to disown the unportioned damsel; and succeeded, after such opposition as the lady judged necessary to give colour to the farce.

    The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D. - Volume 07 Historical and Political Tracts-Irish Jonathan Swift 1706

  • But either his success, or the frequency of the transgression in others, soon wiped off this slight stain from his character; and, although there were a few who, dissatisfied with their own fortunes, or conscious of their own demerits, would make dark hints concerning the sudden prosperity of the unportioned Quaker, yet his services, and possibly his wealth, soon drove the recollection of these vague conjectures from men's minds.

    Word of the Day 2009

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