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 endeles!’
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter lxxv. 4. Lightynand 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. Shaks., 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 Endless 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. Strifes 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. Great Jove, 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. 325/1. 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. trans. 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. 199–200. Weary of the endless waste of ice to seaward.
1864. Mrs. Carlyle, Lett., III. 238. It is 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. Shaks., 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. V. 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-sb. (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. Color, the endelez gutte. Ibid., 603. Podex, the endeles gut.
b. Mech. Endless band, -cable, -chain, -strap: one whose ends are joined for the purpose of continuous action over wheels, etc. Endless knife, 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 Sci. & Art, I. 98. A rapid motion is communicated … by means of an endless strap from a large fly wheel.
1822. 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. J. Holland, Manuf. Metal, II. 144. Projecting points answering to and 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. (ed. 2), 117/2. 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, Love’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 † Endlesshede [see -HEAD], the quality or condition of being endless; eternal existence.
a. 1340. Hampole, Cant. Psalter, 509. Fra þe wayes of his endleshede.
