a. [f. TRUST sb. + -LESS.]
1. Not to be trusted or relied upon; unfaithful, unreliable, treacherous, untrustworthy.
c. 1530. H. Rhodes, Bk. Nurture, 711, in Babees Bk. (1868), 101. To catche ech trustlesse traytor, see thou faythfull doe remayne.
1578. T. Proctor, Gorg. Gallery, B ij. A sternles ship amidst the trustles Seaes.
1603. Florio, Montaigne, II. xii. (1632), 320. A trustles and not to be beleeved voice.
1688–9. Lady R. Russell, Lett. (1819), II. 18. An unkind and trustless world it has been to us.
1797. Anna Seward, Lett. (1811), IV. 356. A melancholy instance of the trustless flattery of youth and prosperity.
1828. E. Irving, Last Days, 81. Every juvenile delinquent,… every trustless servant.
1858. H. Spencer, Ess., I. 308. We are constantly obliged to act out our inferences, trustless as they may be.
2. Having no trust or confidence; unbelieving, distrustful.
1598. Yong, Diana, 114. I was … so trustles and misconceiving of my selfe, that I thought [etc.].
1619. Sir J. Sempill, Sacrilege Handled, 81. Trustles Thomas must first put his finger in his side, and then beleeue.
1838. Eliza Cook, Lines written at Midnight, x. I’ve learned to look With trustless eye on all and each.
1882. J. Walker, Jaunt to Auld Reckie, etc. 27. This trustless mammon-serving age.
Hence Trustlessness, untrustworthy character, faithlessness; distrustfulness.
1825. Ld. Cockburn, Mem. (1856), 324. Disclosing the trustlessness of town Councils … in their protected abuse of power.
1909. R. Law, Tests Life, ix. 178. The sin and folly, the trustlessness and ingratitude of his children.
