a. poet. [f. THRIVE v. or sb. + -LESS.] Not thriving; lacking prosperity or success; unsuccessful, profitless.
c. 1520. Treat. Galaunt (1860), 16. This causeth our galauntes, by theyr nacyon Neuerthryfte and thryueles, noye euer vs so nere.
1620. Quarles, Jonah (1638), 25. The feeble Sailors … Forbeare their thrivelesse labours. Ibid. (1635), Embl., I. xii. And thou, whose thrivelesse hands are ever strayning Earths fluent Brests, into an empty Sive.
1835. Browning, Paracelsus, I. 255. The dull stagnation of a soul, content, Once foiled, to leave betimes a thriveless quest.
