Or-wíge

adj. I. defenceless, without power of fighting:--Orwíge inbellem, Wrt. Voc. ii. 45, 69: 111, 81. Ofsleán mé míne fýnd orwígne decidam merito ab inimicis meis inanis, Ps. Th. 7, 4. Saga hú ðú wurde ðus wígþríst ðæt ðú mec ðus fæste gebunde ǽghwæs orwígne (without any power of resisting), Exon. Th. 268, 18; Jul. 434. II. not liable to a charge of homicide, said of one who, under the circumstances mentioned in the following passages, caused a person's death, but was not exposed on that account to the consequences which usually followed homicide (cf. Icel. víg homicide):--Wé cweþaþ ðæt mon móte mid his hláforde feohtan orwíge (onwíge, MS. H.), gif mon on ðone hláford fiohte; swá mót se hláford mid ðý men feohtan (cf. Unicuique licet domino suo sine wita subvenire, L. H. I. 82, 3; Th. i. 590, 2). Æfter ðære ilcan wísan mon mót feohtan mid his geborene mǽge, gif him mon on wóh on feohteþ. And mon mót feohtan orwíge, gif hé geméteþ óðerne æt his ǽwum wífe, betýnedum durum oððe under ánre reón, oððe æt his dehter ǽwum-borenre, oððe æt his swister, oððe æt his médder ðe wǽre tó ǽwum wífe forgifen his fæder, L. Alf. pol. 42; Th. i. 90, 20-30. (Cf. L. H. I. 82, 4-8; Th. i. 590, 5-22.) or-wige