endless, a. and adv.
(ˈɛndlɪs)
[OE. ęndeléas, f. ęnde, end n.: see -less.]
Having no end.
1. Having no end or limit of duration; unending, eternal.
| c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. xxxviii. §3 Þa earmþa beoþ endelease þe ece bioþ. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 77 Hit scal king bon on þet endelese kineriche. a 1225 Ancr. R. 146 Þi mede þet were endeleas ȝif þi god dede were iholen. 1297 R. Glouc. (1724) 152 ‘Alas!’ he seyde, ‘þe deolful harm, þat ys endeless!’ a 1340 Hampole Psalter lxxv. 4 Lightyn⁓and þou wondirfully fra hilles endles [Vulg. a montibus æternis]. 1393 Gower Conf. II. 70 Whos name shall be endeles For the merveiles which he wrought. 1450–1530 Myrr. our Ladye 321 And I byleue endelesse lyfe. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, i. iii. 222 My..time-bewasted light Shall be extinct with age, and endlesse night. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. iv. xlvi. 374 Eternity..an Endlesse Succession of Time. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 75 ¶8 Death..is a short Night followed by an endless Day. 1827 Pollok Course T. v, Heard the burning of the endless flames. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. xlvii. iii, And we shall sit at endless feast. |
b. hyperbolically for: Interminable; perpetual, incessant, constant.
| c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. xxxvi. §1 Þat..is endeleas wundor. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. ii. (1586) 52 b, To speake of all sortes of hearbes and flowers, were an endlesse labor. 1594 Hooker Eccl. Pol. i. x. (1611) 26 Strife and troubles would be endlesse. 1633 P. Fletcher Psalm 63 There we laid, asteeping Our eyes in endless weeping. 1655–60 Stanley Hist. Philos. (1701) 103/1 How long a night is this, how endless! 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 141 ¶10 It were endless to recount the shifts to which I have been reduced. 1796 Burke Regic. Peace Wks. 1842 II. 325 All the multiplied, endless, nameless iniquities. 1820 Keats St. Agnes xxi, The lover's endless minutes slowly pass'd. 1847 Lewes Hist. Philos. (1867) I. 213 Hence the endless repetitions, divisions, and illustrations of positions almost self-evident. 1872 E. Peacock Mabel Heron I. i. 4 Pouring out endless platitudes. |
2. Of things extended in space: Boundless, infinite; now chiefly with reference to length. Formerly also of depth: Bottomless. Often hyperbolical.
| 1413 Lydg. Pilgr. Sowle v. i. (1859) 72 The grete heuen..is nought endeles, ne infynyte. 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 331 In þe west side he haþ þe endeles occean. 1594 R. Southwell in Shaks. C. Praise 14 How endlesse is your labyrinth of blisse. 1633 P. Fletcher Elisa i. xxiv, Els had the endlesse pit too quickly caught me. 1647 Cowley Mistress iv. (1669) 42 By Thee the one does changing Nature through Her endless Labyrinths pursue. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. II. xx. 199 Weary of the endless waste of ice to seaward. 1864 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. III. 238 An old manor house, with endless passages. 1873 Black Pr. Thule viii. 129 The endless miles of moor. |
3. Of immaterial things, quality, number, etc.: Unbounded, limitless, infinite.
| 138. Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 509 Þe reule ȝoven of Crist of his endeles wisdom and his endeles charitee to mankinde. 1450–1530 Myrr. our Ladye 4 Of the blessyd endeles Trinite. 1595 Shakes. John v. vi. 12 Thou, and endles night, Haue done me shame. a 1658 R. Harris in Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. cxxxvi. 1 Mercy..is negatively endless..because unboundable for being. 1776 Adam Smith W.N. I. i. xi. 175 For the amusement of those desires which cannot be gratified, but which seem altogether endless. 1863 E. Neale Anal. Th. & Nat. 53 A phase in itself endless, as Kant calls it, since no limit can be put to the possible modifications of quality. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 161 The individual man has an endless value in the sight of God. |
† b. quasi-n. (Arithmetical) infinity. Obs.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xix. cxxvi. (1495) 926 The nombre lineall begynnyth fro one and is wryte arowe and lyne vnto endlesse. |
4. Having no definite extremity or terminal point of length. † a. endless gut: the colon (perhaps including the rectum). Obs.
| c 1450 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 574 Colon, the endelez gutte. Ibid. 603 Podex, the endeles gut. |
b. Mech. endless band, endless-cable, endless-chain, endless-strap: one whose ends are joined for the purpose of continuous action over wheels, etc. endless knife, endless saw: a continuous band of steel with either a sharp, or a toothed edge for a similar purpose. endless screw: a short length of screw revolving on an axis, by which continuous motion is imparted to a toothed wheel.
| 1816 J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art I 98 A rapid motion is communicated..by means of an endless strap from a large fly wheel. 1822 J. Imison Sc. & Art (ed. Webster) I. 58 Screws with sharp threads, have more friction than those with square threads; and endless screws have more than either. 1833 Holland Manuf. Metal II. 144 (Cabinet Cycl.) Projecting points..acting in the links of an endless chain. 1854 J. Hogg Microsc. i. ii. (1867) 142 By a slight variation in their positions produced by an endless-screw motion. 1884 Health Exhib. Catal. 113/1 One Brazing Machine for endless knives. 1885 Law Times LXXX. 101/1 The cloth..being caught in an endless leathern band running over a pulley on the shaft. 1887 Daily News 8 Feb. 6/3 The cars will be worked on the successful endless-cable principle. |
† 5. ? Fruitless, profitless. Obs. rare—1.
| a 1625 Fletcher Lover's Pilgr. ii. iii, All loves are endlesse. |
† B. adv. a. Infinitely, in an infinite degree. b. For an infinite period, for ever. Obs.
| c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 737 Hit [the pearl] is endelez rounde & blyþe of mode. c 1340 Cursor M. 23326 (Trin.) Þei haue lost hit endeles. 138. Wyclif Eng. Wks. (1880) 71 Endeles mercyful & goode lord, helpe þi pore wrecchide prestis. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. viii. i. (1495) 294 Men saye that a geaunt is endlesse moche. c 1400 Destr. Troy 8502 Exiled for euermore endles to sorow. |
Hence † ˈendlesshede [see -head], the quality or condition of being endless; eternal existence.
| a 1340 Hampole Cant. Psalter 509 Fra þe wayes of his endleshede. |