Definition of "unserviceable"

And that which was most to our disaduantage, the one halfe part of the men of euerie shippe sicke, and vtterly vnseruiceable.

1591, Walter Raleigh, A Report of the Truth of the Fight about the Iles of Açores, this last Sommer betwixt the Reuenge, one of her Maiesties Shippes, and an Armada of the King of Spaine, London: William Ponsonbie; Riverside Press, 1902

First Soldier. [Reads] ‘First demand of him how many horse the duke is strong.’ What say you to that? / Parolles. Five or six thousand; but very weak and unserviceable: […]

c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act IV, scene iii]

The moſt in ſoule deiected; the moſt baſe, / And moſt vnſeruiceable weede, vnles / You by your heauenly Influence change his vilenes / Into a vertuall habit fit for vſe.

1607, Thomas Dekker, “The Whore of Babylon. […]”, in The Dramatic Works of Thomas Dekker […], volume II, London: John Pearson […], published 1873, page 216

[…] if a Man hath too mean an Opinion of himself, ’twill render him unserviceable both to God and Man.

1696, John Selden, “Humility”, in Table-Talk‎, London: Jacob Tonson, page 68

[…] things unserviceable in one way, may with advantage be applied in another, that is, if one have genius enough for the purpose.

1846 February, Henry Melville, chapter XIX, in Typee […] : A Peep at Polynesian Life, London: John Murray, page 162

[…] I expect she’ll ruin that dress driving over there in the dust and dew with it, and it looks most too thin for these damp nights. Organdy’s the most unserviceable stuff in the world anyhow, and I told Matthew so when he got it.

1908 June, L[ucy] M[aud] Montgomery, chapter XXXIII, in Anne of Green Gables, Boston, Mass.: L[ouis] C[oues] Page & Company, published August 1909 (11th printing)

The '08' was acquired from Gemini Rail Services. It was heavily corroded, unserviceable due to a damaged crankshaft, and had been used to donate spares to other '08s'.

2020 April 22, “Network News: Battery-powered shunter ready to begin testing”, in Rail, page 20

During 1936, revealed Pravda, the Gorky plant set itself the task of turning out 12,000 cars. The actual output was 2,500. In one day 24 of 47 cars turned out were tagged “unserviceable.”

1937 January 25, “Hornlessness”, in Time

[The war] just didn’t stop, till all the bombs were gone and all the aircraft were unserviceable.

1957, Neville Shute, chapter 3, in On the Beach‎, New York: William Morrow & Co.