unbaleful

English

Etymology

From Middle English unbaleful, from Old English unbealuful, equivalent to un- +‎ baleful.

Adjective

unbaleful (comparative more unbaleful, superlative most unbaleful)

1. Not baleful, harmless, innocent.
   • 1948, Investors Chronicle and Money Market Review, volume 174, page 371:

     The Unbaleful Bourbon

   • 2011, Alec Waugh, The Fatal Gift:

     In the old days 'pourings on to boats' in New York were an ideal curtain to a visit: particularly in prohibition days, when you knew that in a very litde while you would be on a bar stool, ordering a legitimate and unbaleful glass of morning beer.

   • 2014, Patrick Leigh Fermor, Artemis Cooper, Words of Mercury: Tales from a Lifetime of Travel:

     Handle creaks, cattlecake flies like a shuttlecock, rattles the pailful: Sniff while the harm of death dies by the charm of breath, all bales unbaleful.

Derived terms

• unbalefully