letterlessadj.n.

1588 W. Kempe Educ. Children sig. B2 Their letterlesse and vnwritten doctrine did bring that fruite and commoditie, which ours doth now being written.

1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de Faur Τετραστικα in tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. 705 'Tis to be more then Sylla Letter-lesse [Fr. Plus que Sylla c'est ignorer les lettres].

1653 E. Waterhouse Humble Apol. Learning 125 A meer daring letterless Commander can..promise himself no more successe in his Enterprise then [etc.].

1763 J. Elphinston Education iv. 101 Cast him not letterless on Neptune's care: For whoso sails a cub, returns a bear.

1836 Fraser's Mag. Aug. 168/1 He was not a whit more likely to obtain promotion than the letterless dunce who mechanically performed his..duty.

1880 P. Greg Errant II. v. 59 Bookless captain and letterless subaltern.

1884 Cent. Mag. 28 157 There was an illiterate generation, and a letterless race to be educated.

1911 H. Belloc in Catholic World Aug. 621 Europe was holding its own..against the attack of all that desired to destroy it; refined and ardent Islam from the South, letterless barbarians from the East and North.

1971 Greece & Rome 18 70 No letterless man would be able to understand the significance of the two elements in the picture or their relationship.

2004 Jrnl. Southwest 46 705 But the question is whether illiterate, that is letterless, Native scholars did so.

1740 H. Walpole Let. 30 Apr. (1955) XVII. 15 I can't let the post go letterless.

1837 Lett. fr. Madras (1843) 62 Unfortunate beings so letterless as to be able to pay them [sc. visits].

1884 Bp. Thorold Yoke of Christ 105 A London Sunday..is absolutely letterless.

1886 A. Hunt That other Person II. 49 She wrote to him each day, and bemoaned her letterless condition.

1933 D. Thomas Let. c11 Nov. (1987) 48 Some of the enclosed notes..have been written during the last and letterless week.

1970 Eng. Hist. Rev. 85 859 The letterless early years are not much more than sketched in.

1997 Scotsman (Nexis) 6 Jan. 16 All through Christmas and beyond the agony went on, the paranoia mounting with each letterless day.

1823 Mirror Lit., Amusem., & Instr. 8 Mar. 291/1 A letterless stone..marks the spot where Napoleon sleeps.

1881 Education Feb. The title..was only retained by those who would have been absolutely letterless but for this domestic honour.

1886 D. Macleod Clyde District Dumbartonshire i. 6 This ancient letterless slab.

1919 Crisis Oct. 314 They demonstrated blindfolded on letterless keyboard Typewriters.

1956 R. Korn Orchestral Accents ii. 13 Clearly this is the ancestor of all the accent symbols that consist of letterless signs.

1998 R. Suskind Hope in Unseen (2005) iii. 75 The letterless marquee of an abandoned movie theater.

1760 W. Law Coll. Lett. Interesting & Important Subj. i. 20 They help the Ignorant and Letterless to..a Knowledge of God.

1898 Pall Mall Gaz. 14 Mar. 2/2 The educated must be protected from the domination of the letterless and the priest-ridden.

1908 Forum July 53 Now, if this were merely a superstition of the letterless, it would not matter.

1950 W. Durant Age of Faith xxxi. 845 The Church, which once had feared it [sc. art], found in it now a propitious medium for inculcating her faith and ideals among the letterless.