a. [f. LIST sb.4 + -LESS. Cf. the collateral form LUSTLESS, which occurs in the sense of ‘listless’ (trans. L. deses) as early as 1398.] Of persons, their actions, etc.: † a. Destitute of relish or inclination for some specified object or pursuit; const. of (obs.). b. Characterized by unwillingness to move, act, or make any exertion; marked by languid indifference as to what goes on around one, or as to what one has to do.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 307/2. Lystles, desidiosus, segnis.
1667. W. Fairfax, in Phil. Trans., II. 549. He was ever a listless, dull and melancholy fellow.
1678. Bunyan, Pilgr., Author’s Apol. This Book is writ in such a Dialect As may the minds of listless men affect.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 378. The sick … idle in their empty Hives remain, Benum’d with Cold, and listless of their Gain.
1702. Eng. Theophrast., 136. Intemperance and sensuality do make men’s minds listless and unactive.
1750. Gray, Elegy, 103. His listless Length at Noontide wou’d he stretch.
1766. Fordyce, Serm. Yng. Wom. (1767), I. Pref. 3. A dull discourse naturally produces a listless audience.
1811. Edgeworth, Pract. Educ. (1822), II. 442. The playthings of children should be calculated to fix their attention, that they may not get a habit of doing any thing in a listless manner.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. xi. 78. The listless strokes of his axe proclaimed his exhaustion.
1883. Sir T. Martin, Ld. Lyndhurst, v. 121. Listless students of law do not make their way at the Bar.
absol. 1758. Johnson, Idler, No. 3, ¶ 7. By what methods the listless may be actuated.
Comb. 1822. [C’tess Blessington], Magic Lantern, 8. A listless looking young man.
Hence † Listlesshede, listlessness.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 307/2. Lystles-hede, segnicies, desidia.
