Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Destitute of a sword.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Destitute of a sword.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Without a sword.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

sword +‎ -less

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word swordless.

Examples

  • His encounter with the giant had left him swordless, and that left him feeling naked.

    Hummin' gregvaneekhout 2007

  • As he strove to force his horse nearer to this gesticulating, screaming grey object that struggled up and down, there came a clatter of hoofs, and the little man, in act of mounting, swordless, balanced on his belly athwart the white horse, and clutching its mane, whirled past.

    Twelve Stories and a Dream, by H. G. Wells Herbert George 2006

  • Kay should not be swordless, and so I came hither eagerly and pulled it out of the stone without any pain.

    Le Morte d'Arthur: Sir Thomas Malory's book of King Arthur and of his noble knights of the Round table 2003

  • When he pressed it into Sphigx's swordless left hand, the hand closed upon it.

    Nightside The Long Sun Wolfe, Gene 1993

  • Quick as thought, the swordless man by his side hit up the bravo's rapier with his left arm, and the blade, stabbing the air, struck and bent against the stones of the wall just over shoulder-height.

    Orrain A Romance S. Levett-Yeats

  • Howard replied: "It may be that we shall meet Thorbiorn, and when the meeting is over I shall not be a swordless man, but it is likely that I shall have Warflame, that mighty weapon, the best of swords; and here I have a good spear."

    Hero-Myths & Legends of the British Race

  • He came to his company hatless, swordless, moneyless, but sound as ever -- the same old Jo.

    History of the Eighty-sixth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, during its term of service John R. Kinnear

  • Whoever has witnessed Kean's superb delineation of the ruthless Richard in the scene where, in the illusion of his dying agony, swordless, he continues to lunge and feint, may comprehend the frightful mental overturn which prompted Raikes to sink inertly into a chair near the table, and with foam-flecked lips fall to counting, one by one, the miserable coals in the dull heap before him.

    The Flaw in the Sapphire Charles M. Snyder

  • I found no body at home to deliver me his sword, and so I thought my brother Sir Kay should not go swordless, and so I came hither eagerly and pulled it out of the stone without any pain. '

    English Literature for Boys and Girls

  • He was gone into the darkness, and Lindley was left alone -- coatless and swordless -- with a bundle of scarlet garments under his arm, and, in his heart, an inexplicable longing to follow the boy, Johan, into the night.

    Ainslee's, Vol. 15, No. 6, July 1905 Various

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.