songless, a.
(ˈsɒŋlɪs)
[f. song n. + -less.]
1. Devoid of song; not singing.
| c 1805 Kirke White Nelsoni Mors 13 The woods and storied haunts Of my not songless boyhood. 1832 J. Bree St. Herbert's Isle 83 The thrush sits songless on the mistle⁓toe. 1866 Meredith Vittoria vii, Before he had quitted the court, he had sunk into songless gloom. 1882 ‘Ouida’ Maremma I. 192 The clear voices burst over the silence of the songless moor. |
2. Ornith. Lacking the power of song.
| 1825 Waterton Wand. S. Amer. (1882) 26 Chiefly in the dry Savannas, you see a songless yawariciri still lovelier than the last. c 1882 Cassell's Nat. Hist. IV. 109 The Mesomyodi, or Songless Birds. 1895 Atlantic Monthly Aug. 277 In the cases of the so-called songless birds there is often no attempt. |
Hence ˈsonglessly adv.
| a 1849 J. C. Mangan Poems (1859) 119 If the saunterer-by songlessly pass Through the long grass. 1856 Ruskin Mod. Paint. IV. v. xix. §6 All the while the veritable peasants are kneeling songlessly. |