Talk:unwield

RFV discussion: January–February 2020

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unwield

Another supposed good olde Englishe worde that actually seems like a vanishingly rare nonce or mistake. I don't understand the use in the 1907 citation (a poem), and the 2007 one seems like an NNES solecism (a judge "unwields" a task?). Neither of them is at all convincing as evidence for the claimed definition. Equinox ◑ 15:42, 27 January 2020 (UTC)

I have put the verbal uses I could find on the citations page. The 1907 citation I believe to be an adjective. All the verbal uses I found (except the 2014, which I take to be a nonce that supports the supplied definition) seem to be a sort of combination of wielding and unveiling. Kiwima (talk) 21:35, 27 January 2020 (UTC)

The 1907 is a misquote of this (line 66). The 2014 is indeed a nonce, but it seems to refer to making the commentary unwieldy to the point of uselessness. Chuck Entz (talk) 03:44, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

Kiwima, having looked at 1907 again I agree it's an adjective, and must mean unwieldy (perhaps cut short for poetic meter, like e'en). The sense of "unwieldy" is echoed by the adjective cumbrous that follows it. I see it's a scanno for unwieldy, thus removed. Equinox ◑ 07:44, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

RFV-failed. We have enough verb citations on the citations page for an entry, but the definition is unclear. In any case, it clearly did not match the definition that I just deleted. Kiwima (talk) 20:45, 28 February 2020 (UTC)