English

edit

Alternative forms

edit

Etymology

edit

From un- +‎ shaven.

Pronunciation

edit

Adjective

edit

unshaven (not comparable)

  1. Not having shaved; not shaven; untrimmed.
    • 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, [], →OCLC, part I, page 201:
      He was an unshaven little man in a threadbare coat like a gaberdine, with his feet in slippers, and I thought him a harmless fool.
    • 1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider []”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, [], published 1915, →OCLC, chapter III (Accessory After the Fact), page 382, column 2:
      She was frankly disappointed. For some reason she had expected to discover a burglar of one or another accepted type—either a dashing cracksman in full-blown evening dress, lithe, polished, pantherish, or a common yegg, a red-eyed, unshaven, burly brute in the rags and tatters of a tramp.
  2. (figurative) Unkempt.
    The recruit's face was smooth but for a single almost imperceptible hair protruding from his chin. "Unshaven!" screamed the officer.

Translations

edit