unlaw
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English[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
From Middle English unlawe, unlaȝ, unlage, from Old English unlagu (“violation of law, illegality, injustice, lawlessness”), equivalent to un- (“lack or absence of”) + law.
Noun[edit]
unlaw (usually uncountable, plural unlaws)
- (obsolete) A crime, an illegal action.
- Absence of law; lawlessness.
- 2012, Read I. Myers, The Great Canadian Oligarchy: Flaws in Our Freedoms:
- In regard to abortion we are now lawless. The law of the land is no law at all; that is, unlaw reigns.
- (obsolete) A fine exacted from a transgressor of the law.
Etymology 2[edit]
From un- (“reversal, undoing”) + law.
Verb[edit]
unlaw (third-person singular simple present unlaws, present participle unlawing, simple past and past participle unlawed)
- (transitive) To deprive of the authority or character of law.
- (transitive) To put beyond the protection of the law; to outlaw.
- (transitive, obsolete, Scots law) To fine.
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms prefixed with un-
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English terms with quotations
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- en:Scots law