a. [f. WORK sb. + -LESS.]
1. Doing no work; inactive, idle. Obs. or arch.
1484. Caxton, Fables of Æsop, V. ix. (1889), 150. What doo ye here, why are yow werkless?
1493. [H. Parker], Dives & Pauper, I. xxx. (W. de W., 1496), 69/1. Nedy werkelesse men that go so gay & spende grete.
1571. Golding, Calvin on Ps. lxxv. 8. Wee imagin I wote not what maner of worklesse and ydle sovereintie, as though he ruled not mankynd with his power and providence.
1629. C. Potter, Consecration Serm., March 15 1628, 77. These verball Doctors, these worklesse talkers.
1881. ‘Vernon Lee,’ Belcaro, vii. 195. Inactive, with listless limbs and workless hands.
† 2. Of faith: Without works. Obs.
1532. More, Confut. Tindale, Wks. 529/2. A manne maye … haue the righte faythe ydle and woorkelesse.
1653. Manton, Exp. James ii. 14. The apostle calleth a workless faith a dead or lifeless faith.
3. Unprovided with work; having no work to do; out of work, unemployed. Often absol. with the.
1848. R. Howitt, in Tait’s Mag., XV. 356/1.
| The workless silence, wageless misery: | |
| Want’s silent murders, which, like water-drops, | |
| Wear men to clay. |
1887. Pall Mall Gaz., 22 Nov., 1/1. The bitter cold of the fireless room or the frozen doorstep will wring from the workless workers a still more piteous moan. Ibid., 7 Dec., 10/2. The Workless in the Country.
1892. Mrs. G. A. Sala, Famous People I have met, 18. The … workless weavers of the East-end.
Hence Worklessness, the condition of being workless; unemployment.
1869. Exeter & Plymouth Gaz., 26 Feb., 5/1. This worklessness does not arise from an absence of work; but because he lacks either the aptitude or the inclination to perform the work that ought to be done.
1883. G. Macdonald, Donal Grant, xlii. Ye maun be growin’ some short o’ siller i’ this time o’ warklessness.
1892. Toynbee Rec., Dec., 29. We are confronted this Winter with a worklessness which approaches … that of 1886.
