[f. SPEECHLESS a.] The state or condition of being speechless; lack or loss of speech.
1581. Dee, Priv. Diary (Camden), 10. My mervaylous horsnes and in manner spechelesnes toke me.
1638. Rawley, trans. Bacon’s Life & Death (1650), 54. The immediate preceding signs of death are … the memory confused, speechelesnesse, cold sweats [etc.].
1822–7. Good, Study Med. (1829), I. 540. Aphonia. Dumbness. Speechlessness. Inability of Speech.
1863. Mrs. Whitney, Faith Gartney’s Girlh., xvii. Her very speechlessness before him had come from the deep pleasure that his presence had given to her.
1873. B. Harte, Fiddletown, 17. The monstrous doll, whose very size seemed to give a pathetic significance to its speechlessness.
