doless, a. dial. and colloq.
(ˈduːlɪs)
Also doeless, do-less.
[f. do v. + -less: app. sometimes confused with dowless.]
Inactive, inefficient, without energy; good for nothing, useless.
| 1788 E. Picken Poems 148 (Jam.) Hard is the fate o' ony doless tyke, That's forc'd to marry ane he disna like. 1823 Galt R. Gilhaize I. 135 (Jam.) Sae casten down, doless, and dowie. 1860 Bartlett Dict. Amer., Doless, inefficient. ‘He's a doless sort of fellow.’ 1876 T. E. Brown Doctor 12 A doeless sort of a woman. 1881 B. Taylor Ballads, Old Pennsylv. Farmer vi, But they're a doless set. 1891 R. Mulholland Haunted Organist 229 It's the poor do-less pair we'd be only for our Ailsie, that's han's an' feet to us both. 1936 M. Mitchell Gone with Wind lv. 949 He's just a piddling, do-less, good-for-nothing. 1949 M. Mead Male & Female xv. 324 Too lazy, too do-less, to make an effort. |