a. [f. THIRST sb. + -LESS.] Having no thirst; not thirsty.
1591. Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. vii. 648. Th’ officious Kids … sip (self thirst-less) of the River’s brink, Which in their mouthes they bring them [their Parents old] home to drink.
1856. Dodell, Lyrics in War Time, Home Wounded. Among the thirstless dead.
1883. Half-hours in Many Lands, 4. This great thirstless teetotal abstainer [the camel].
b. Not impelled by thirst. nonce-use.
1706. Baynard, in Sir J. Floyer, Hot & Cold Bath., II. 330. Unnecessary and thirstless Epotations.
Hence Thirstlessness.
1822–34. Good’s Study Med. (ed. 4), I. 102. Cases of thirstlessness are not by any means frequent.
1881. George M. Beard, in Pacific Commercial Advertiser (Honolulu), 22 Jan., 3/7. Thirstlessness—a lack of desire for water, and the difficulty of assimilating it—is as common among the upper classes of Americans as lack of desire for solid food.
