sackless

sackless, a.
  (ˈsæklɪs)
  Forms: 1–2 sacléas, 2 sacclæs, saclese, 3 sac(c)les, sakelease, 4–6 sa(c)kles, 4–5 sa(c)keles, (4 saklas, 5 saklace), 6 saikles(s(e, sackelesse, 6–7 sakelesse, sacklesse, 8 saickless, 7– sakeless, 8– sackless.
  [Late OE. sacléas (see sac¹ and -less); perh. after ON. saklauss (Sw. saklös, Da. sagl{obar}s). Cf. MDu. sakeloos.
  OE. sacléas occurs as adv. in the sense ‘without cause’ (gratis, Vulg.) in the Lindisfarne Gospels, John xv. 25. Cf. ON. saklaust adv. in the same sense.]
  † 1. Secure from accusation or from dispute; unchallenged, unmolested. Obs.

c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. xxviii. 14 And ᵹif ðis ᵹehered bið from ðen groefa we ᵹe-trewað him & sac-leaso iwih we ᵹedoeð [Vulg. et securos vos faciemus]. a 1067 Charter of Eadweard in Kemble Cod. Dipl. IV. 199 Ich keðe eu ðat ælfred hauet yseld Gise biscop his land at Hlytton sacleas and clæne. a 1122 O.E. Chron. an. 1106, Eadgar æþeling þe litle ær..was ᵹe faren..þone let se cyng syððan sacleas faran. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 916 Oc al ðat euere fel him to, Sac-les he let hin welden it so. 1513 Douglas æneis xii. x. 13 Turnus..behaldis the cite, Sakles of batale, fre of all sic striffe. 1819 Scott Ivanhoe xxxiii, Theow and Esne art thou no longer,..Folkfree and Sacless art thou in town and from town, in the forest as in the field.

  2. Not guilty, innocent. Const. of. Now arch.

a 1000 Laws Ethelred iii. c. 3 (Schmid), Swerian..þæt hiᵹ nellan nænne sacleasan man forsecgan ne nænne sacne forhelan. c 1200 Ormin Ded. 202 He ȝaff hiss aȝhenn lif..To þolenn dæþþ o rodetre sacclæs wiþþutenn wrihhte. a 1300 Cursor M. 2440 And sco vnsoght saccles o sin. a 1352 Minot Poems (Hall) ii. 3 Þare slogh ȝe many sakles, als it was sene. c 1450 Mirour Saluacioun 1286 And marye son be thaym slayne saklest y{supt} eure was manne. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. (Rolls) I. 73 Saikles he wes, tha wist weill, of sic thing. 1599 Nashe Lenten Stuffe 35 There was..a deale of whinyards drawne about him, and many sacklesse wights..run through the tender weambs. 1632 Lithgow Trav. iii. 122 Curst be the hands, that sakelesse Troianes slay. 1670 Deposit. York Castle (Surtees) 177 As for the bewitchinge of any of his children, shee is sacklesse. 1725 Ramsay Gentle Sheph. v. iii, They'd smoor the sakeless orphan in her bed. 1831 Blackw. Mag. XXX. 386 That you are sackless of this murder who shall testify? 1882 C. M. Yonge Unknown to Hist. I. 11 Poor Lady she is, in all sooth, if sackless: poorer still if guilty. 1897 W. Beatty Secretar viii. 62 My father would be sackless of all intent to make his market out of the misfortunes of his queen.

absol. a 1225 Ancr. R. 68 Þe treowe is misleued, & te sakelease ofte bilowen, uor wone of witnesse. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 716 Schal synful & saklez suffer al on payne. 14.. Gosp. Nicod. (Galba) 950 Ȝe childer of irraell, listens me, þat has þis sakles slayne. c 1560 A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) xxvi. 46 Thay sklander saikles, & thay suspectit.

  b. Sc. and north. dial. Innocent of wrong intent, guileless, simple; also, of a thing, harmless. Hence, in disparaging sense, feeble-minded; lacking energy, dispirited. (Cf. innocent a. 3, 3 b.)

a 1600 Montgomerie Sonn. li, Ȝit thoght thou [the nightingale] sees not, sillie, saikles thing! The piercing pykis brods at thy bony breist. 1804 R. Couper Poetry I. 228 Ill fated Du!..December's snaw, Fell saickless at thy side. 1847 E. Brontë Wuthering Heights xxii, ‘It looks melancholy, does it not, Ellen?’ ‘Yes,’ I observed, ‘about as starved and sackless as you—your cheeks are bloodless.’ 1862 [C. C. Robinson] Leeds Dial. Gloss. s.v., A poor sackless feal [= fool]. 1872 J. Hartley Yorksh. Ditties Ser. i. 81 Shoo'll..ax him if he knows who's writing that is? An' he'll luk at it as sackless as if he didn't know it wor his own.

  † 3. Of an accusation or penalty: Having no just cause; brought against or inflicted on an innocent person. Obs.

a 1300 Cursor M. 4625 Þi saccles scam wel it is kyd. c 1470 Henry Wallace vi. 215 The saklace slauchter off hir, blith and brycht. 1513 Douglas æneis vi. vii. 14 Wrangusly put to deid for cryme saikles. 1525 St. Papers Hen. VIII, IV. 418, I denunce..all..the committaris of the said saikles murthuris. 1572 Satir. Poems Reform. xxxii. 2 Quhat murther & oppressioun, Quhat saikless slauchter.

  Hence † ˈsacklessly adv., innocently, without just cause.

a 1300 Cursor M. 11563 And vtewit mani barntem Did he sacclesli o lijf. 1483 Cath. Angl. 316/2 Saklesly, jnculpabiliter. 1525 St. Papers Hen. VIII, IV. 417 How our Soverane Lordis trew liegis..ar saikleslie part murdrist, part slane. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. (Rolls) III. 201 Wallace..Quhilk saiklislie of ony gilt or cryme,..sufferit hes the deid. a 1578 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) II. 211 He was bruited behind his back sacklislie. c 1626–7 in Sel. Biog. (Wodrow Soc.) I. 352 Because of my carriage towards her, who suffered sakelessly for his cause.

Oxford English Dictionary