spurless, a.
(ˈspɜːlɪs)
Also 4 sporeles, 5 sporles.
[f. spur n.1 + -less. Cf. G. spornlos.]
1. Lacking a spur; having no spurs. Also in fig. context.
| a 1300 Pol. Songs (Camden) 71 Thou shalt ride sporeles o thy lyard. c 1400 Pilg. Sowle (Caxton, 1483) v. x. 101 There come pryke forthe sporles Humylyte and ranne ageyne pryde. |
| 1864 Lowell Fireside Trav. 266 Digging at the sides of his mule with his spurless heels. 1880 in Mrs. Power O'Donoghue Ladies on Horseback (1881) 251 A spurless boot. |
2. Of birds or their legs: Devoid of spurs.
| 1819 Stephens in Shaw Gen. Zool. XI. i. 243 Argus:..the tarsi spurless: the tail ascending. 1849 D. J. Browne Amer. Poultry Yd. (1855) 141 Bill and spurless legs less stout. 1859 Darwin Orig. Spec. iv. (1860) 88 A hornless stag or spurless cock. |
3. Bot. Having no spur or calcar.
| 1839 Lindley Sch. Bot. iv. 36 Petals 4;..two convex and spurless. 1849 Craig, Spurless-violet, the plant Erpeton reniformis. 1855 Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. V. 196 Spurless Coral root. |
4. Of branches: Destitute of fruiting-spurs.
| 1868 Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869) 122 These long, spurless branches can be thinned out by removing them entirely. |