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unkempt - 4 dictionary results

un⋅kempt

[uhn-kempt]
–adjective
1. not combed: unkempt hair.
2. uncared-for or neglected; disheveled; messy: unkempt clothes; an unkempt lawn.
3. unpolished; rough; crude.

Origin:
1590–1600; var. of unkembed; see un- 1 , kempt


un⋅kempt⋅ly, adverb
un⋅kempt⋅ness, noun
un·kempt   (ŭn-kěmpt')   
adj.  
    1. Not combed: unkempt hair.
    2. Not properly maintained; disorderly or untidy: an unkempt garden. See Synonyms at sloppy.
  1. Unpolished; rude.

[Middle English unkemd : un-, not; see un-1 + kembed, past participle of kemben, to comb (from Old English cemban; see gembh- in Indo-European roots).]

Unkempt

Un*kempt"\ (?; 215), a. [Pref. un- not + kempt, p. p. of kemb.]

1. Not combed; disheveled; as, an urchin with unkempt hair.

2. Fig.; Not smoothed; unpolished; rough.

My rhymes be rugged and unkempt. --Spenser.

unkempt 
1579, from un- (1) "not" + kempt "well-combed, neat," from variant pp. of O.E. cemban "to comb," from P.Gmc. *kambijan, from *kamb- "comb" (see comb). Form unkembed iss recorded from 1390. The verb kemb is rare after 1400s, but its negative pp. form endures.
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