ladylessadj.
/ˈleɪdɪlᵻs/, U.S. /ˈleɪdilᵻs/ rare before 19th cent.
Without a lady or ladies; (also) having no lady-love (cf. lady n. 1d).
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social relations > lack of social communication or relations > solitude or solitariness > [adjective] > in absence of lady
ladylessa1470
a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) I. 415 Sytthen that I am ladyles, I woll wynne thy lady and I may.
1849 Ladies Repository Mar. 71/1 I took the precaution, as I happened to be, at that time, ladyless, to choose my place at the other extremity of the table.
1858 W. Morris King Arthur's Tomb 37 Perchance, indeed, quite ladyless were best.
1888 J. Bryce Amer. Commonw. III. cv. 518 At hotels their [sc. women's] sitting-room is..sometimes the only available public room, ladyless guests being driven to the bar or the hall.
1918 H. B. Adams Education 139 In due course this party of five men sat down to dinner with the usual club manners of ladyless dinner-tables, easy and formal at the same time.
1983 Washington Post (Nexis) 14 July (Final ed.) f7 I'm lonely. I'm ladyless. Again. You know any unattached women who can't live without me?
2004 D. G. Campbell Land of Ghosts vi. 110 The mateiros, ladyless and randy, sing ribald songs and banter in a language of anatomical precision.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.a1470