unmeet

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English unmete, vnmete, unimete, from Old English unġemǣte, unmǣte (“immense, enormous; unsuitable”), equivalent to un- +‎ meet (“fit, right”).

Adjective

unmeet (comparative more unmeet, superlative most unmeet)

1. (archaic) Not meet or proper.
   • c. 1587–1588, R[ichard] I[ones], “To the Gentlemen Readers [… ]”, in Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN:

     I haue (purpoſelie) omitted and left out ſome fond & friuolous Ieſtures, digreſſing (and in my poore opinion) farre vnmeete for the matter […] .

   • 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:

     […] O, my father! / Prove you that any man with me convers'd / At hours unmeet, or that I yesternight / Maintain'd the change of words with any creature, / Refuse me, hate me, torture me to death.

   • 1851, Grace Aguilar, The Vale of Cedars‎^[1]:

     Ferdinand himself gazed on her a moment astonished; then with animated courtesy hastily raised her, and playfully chid the movement as unmeet from a hostess to her guests.

   • 1867, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “May-Day”, in May-Day and Other Pieces, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, pages 14–15:

     Where shall we keep the holiday, / And duly greet the entering May? / Too strait and low our cottage doors, / And all unmeet our carpet floors; […]

   • 1900, Ernest Dowson, Amor Umbratilis‎^[2]:

     I cast my flowers away,
     Blossoms unmeet for you!

   • 1915, James Branch Cabell, The Rivet in Grandfather’s Neck‎^[3]:

     There were many hideous histories the colonel could have told you of, unmeet to be set down, and he was familiar with this talk of pelvic anomalies which were congenital.

Derived terms

• unmeetly
• unmeetness

 

Translations

not proper

• Bulgarian: неподходя́щ (bg) (nepodhodjášt), неподобаващ (bg) (nepodobavašt)
• Russian: неподходя́щий (ru) m (nepodxodjáščij), несоотве́тствующий (ru) m (nesootvétstvujuščij)

Etymology 2

From un- +‎ meet.

Verb

unmeet (third-person singular simple present unmeets, present participle unmeeting, simple past and past participle unmet)

1. (transitive) To undo the process of meeting.
   • 2008, Paula Chase, “Good Boys vs. Bad Boys”, in Who You Wit’? (A Del Rio Bay Novel), New York, N.Y.: Dafina Books, →ISBN:

     Tell him […] that I wish I could unmeet him because he’s on my brain so much it makes me feel crazy.

   • 2008, Jeri Smith-Ready, “I Forgot to Remember to Forget”, in Wicked Game, New York, N.Y.: Pocket Books, →ISBN:

     But if I could unmeet him somehow, make all this unhappen, I would.

   • 2010, Seth King, chapter 10, in Honesty, [North Charleston, S.C.]: [CreateSpace], →ISBN, page 154:

     I wish I could unmeet you, unread you, unknow you, unarrange my life around you.

   • 2013 July 29, Alexandra Mikah, “Nice To Un-Meet You”, in Lies and Other Minor Tragedies: Poems, Bloomington, Ind.: iUniverse, published 2015, →ISBN:

     I wish I could unmeet you / Just so we can meet again.

   • 2014, Kristina Lloyd, “Part 5”, in Undone, London: Black Lace, Ebury Publishing, →ISBN, page 276:

     I wish I could roll back time so I could unmeet him, unsleep with him, unknow him, unlove him.

   • 2017, Kayde Langer, Good Morning Sunshine, [Morrisville, N.C.]: [Lulu.com], →ISBN, page 137:

     I wish I could unmeet people and maybe I wouldn’t be the way I am.

   • 2018, Jamie McGuire, From Here to You‎^[4], New York, N.Y.: Forever, Grand Central Publishing, published 2019, →ISBN:

     I would have given all of this up if I could have gone back and done things different. If I could unmeet Shawn, be someone different, and start over.

   • 2021, Madiha Saleem, Insha SIddiqui, “I Wish I Could Unmeet You”, in Beaaz-E-Jazbaat, Rourkela, Odisha: Unvoiced Heart, →ISBN, page 15:

     I wish you were never part of my lesson. I wish I could unmeet you.