a. [f. BEARD sb. + -LESS.] Having no beard; hence fig. youthful, immature.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., B. 789. Bolde burnez wer þay boþe with berdles chynnez.
1480. Caxton, Trevisa’s Descr. Brit., 50. Ther come xv. yong berdles men clothed like wymmen.
1595. Shaks., John, V. i. 69. Shall a beardlesse boy, A cockred-silken wanton, braue our fields?
1621. Quarles, Esther (1638), 112. Rash, and beardlesse Counsell.
1712. Spect., No. 527, ¶ 2. A beardless stripling.
1825. Syd. Smith, Wks., 1867, II. 72. Is beardless youth to show no respect for the decisions of mature age?
b. Bot. Without beard or awn.
1861. Miss Pratt, Flower. Pl., VI. 127. Common Rye-grass, Red Darnel, or Beardless Darnel.
1870. Hooker, Stud. Flora, 97. Milk-vetch, style filiform, beardless.
