a. [f. FAULT sb. + -LESS.] Free from fault.
1. Without defect, imperfection, or blemish; irreproachable. Said with reference to moral character, physical or intellectual qualities, workmanship, beauty, etc.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 794. Of alle feturez ful fyn & fautlez boþe.
c. 1340. Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight, 640. Fyrst he watȝ funden fautleȝ in his fyue wytteȝ.
a. 1674. Clarendon, Hist. Reb., IX. (1843), 577/1. A very faultless young man.
1709. Pope, Ess. Crit., 253.
| Whoever thinks a faultless piece to see, | |
| Thinks what ne’er was, nor is, nor e’er shall be. |
1770. Junius, Lett. xxxix. 203. A fautless, insipid equality.
1853. Kane, Grinnell Exp., xii. (1856), 88. It is a singularly beautiful bird, so faultless in its purity of white as to be descried with difficulty on the surface of the snow.
1868. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), II. x. 506. The faultless model of a ruler.
1883. J. Gilmour, Among the Mongols, xxxi. 358. Resplendent in yellow coats and faultless hats.
2. That has committed no fault; that is not to blame; guiltless, innocent. Obs. exc. with mixture of sense 1.
1513. More, in Grafton, Chron., II. 758. Finally were he faultie or faultlesse, attainted was he by Parliament.
c. 1540. Order in Battayll, C iij b. As well for the faultlesse, as the gyltie.
1624. Fairfax, Godfr. of Boulogne, III. 39. For our sinnes he faultlesse suffered paine.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 710.
| Revenge the crime, and take the Traytor’s Head, | |
| E’er in the faultless Flock the dire Contagion spread. |
[1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., IV. 395. Rochester … expressed a wish to be informed of the grounds on which the Admiral had been declared faultless.]
† b. occas. transf. Not caused by any fault. Also in faultless pardon, a pardon for an alleged offence never committed. Obs.
1556. J. Heywood, Spider & F., ii. 151.
| And pacience the medsonable meane, | |
| To take all fautles falles, reioisinglie. |
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. lx. (1611), 317. In whome there is no other defect beside his faultlesse lacke of baptisme.
1752. Carte, Hist. Eng., III. 575. Condemning him for obliging the most deserving of his subjects to ask a faultless pardon.
