a. [f. KING sb. + -LESS; cf. ON. konunglauss, G. königlos.] Without a king; having no king.

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1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 2289. Þe king lai ded þar, Þo was þis lond kingles.

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a. 1300.  Cursor M., 9344. Kyngles sal yee be fra þat dai.

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c. 1450.  Merlin, 24. Sir, we ben Kyngeles, for he that we haue is naught worth.

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1683.  Williams, Answ. Hunt’s Postscr., 17. I find no approbation of such as the Kingless Keepers of the Liberty of England.

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1812.  Byron, Ch. Har., I. lxxxvi. They fight for freedom who were never free; A Kingless people for a nerveless state.

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1871.  Tylor, Prim. Cult., I. 353. The kingless Turkoman hordes say of themselves ‘We are a people without a head.’

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  Hence Kinglessness.

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1850.  Carlyle, Latter-d. Pamph., i. 7. Open ‘kinglessness,’ what we call anarchy,… is everywhere the order of the day.

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