peerless, a.
(ˈpɪəlɪs)
[f. peer n. + -less.]
Without peer; unequalled, matchless.
| c 1320 R. Brunne Medit. 1141 To þat pes pereles we prey þou vs bryng. 1390 Gower Conf. III. 285 His doghter, which was piereles Of beaute. 1494 Fabyan Chron. vii. ccxl. 281 He [Henry II] was pereles in chyualry, in warre, and in lechery. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. June 32 Such pierlesse pleasures haue we. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 608 The moon, Rising in clouded Majestie, at length Apparent Queen unvaild her peerless light. 1715 Wodrow Corr. (1843) II. 691 A person wonderful for..his peerless industry. 1871 Macduff Mem. Patmos xix. 268 It stands out by itself with peerless grandeur, in annals sacred and profane. |
b. in advb. constr.
| 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. vii. 4 Sa peirles proud, as na toung of man is able to discriue. |
Hence ˈpeerlessly adv., ˈpeerlessness.
| 1599 B. Jonson Ev. Man out of Hum. iv. iv, The Gentle⁓woman..is not so peerelessely to bee doted vpon. 1611 Cotgr., Singularité, singularitie, excellencie, peerlessnesse. 1656 Trapp Comm. 2 Thess. ii. 3 That breathing devil, so portentously, so peerlessly vicious. 1865 Kingsley Herew. xviii, She is peerlessly beautiful. 1894 Chicago Advance 8 Feb., To exhibit the peerlessness of Christian Theism. |