ruthlessadj.

c1330 in R. H. Robbins Hist. Poems 14th & 15th Cent. (1959) 141 (MED) For wel is wo, þe lond is reuþeles.

c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Man of Law's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 765 She looketh bakward to the londe And seyde fare wel housbonde routhelees.

c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) ii. l. 8593 Achilles..Routh[e]les in his malencolye.

a1500 (c1375) G. Chaucer Anelida & Arcite (Harl. 7333) (1878) l. 230 Of my woo he is so rewthelesse.

1513 G. Douglas in tr. Virgil Æneid iv. Prol. 145 Thus thou prayis, ‘Haif mercy, lady, haif reuth and sum piete!’ And scho, reuthles, agane rewis on the.

1572 R. Sempill Lament. Commounis Scotl. (single sheet) Thay reuthles Ruffeis..Did slay my husband.

1594 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 2 ii. iv. 35 The ruthlesse flints do cut my tender feete.

1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. ii. i. 317 Till ruth-lesse Death..Thy dust-borne body turne to dust againe.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Measure for Measure (1623) iii. i. 378 Why, what a ruthlesse thing is this.., to take away the life of a man? View more context for this quotation

1682 T. D'Urfey Injured Princess iii. iii. 32 The Place Is ruthless, wild and uninhabited.

1717 A. Pope tr. Homer Iliad III. ix. 585 The vengeful Fiends below, And ruthless Proserpine, confirm'd his Vow.

1762 W. Falconer Shipwreck ii. 33 Ye! who, unmov'd, can brave the ruthless storm.

1791 W. Cowper tr. Homer Odyssey in Iliad & Odyssey II. xviii. 105 He shall despoil thee with his ruthless steel.

1830 I. D'Israeli Comm. Life Charles I III. xii. 264 Ruthless and inexorable, when his theological empire was in peril.

1879 ‘G. Eliot’ Theophrastus Such xii. 219 He was..defended against a ten years' siege from ruthless facts.

1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Colonial Reformer (1891) 217 The unsparing use of the ruthless stockwhip.

1911 Nature 6 Apr. 196/1 But man, with increased numbers and civilisation, began a ruthless War against the forest.

1970 Ebony Dec. 174 An Army made up entirely of men who love the military could become a dangerous weapon should ruthless militarists gain control.

2009 St. Petersburg Times (Florida) (Nexis) 19 Oct. 2 b The kind of ruthless, methodical vengeance that usually occurs only in the movies.

1907 Times 23 Dec. 10/1 They should suggest whatever course of education their reason suggested as being the best, and they should push the conclusions of reason to their ruthless end.

1933 M. R. Brailsford tr. H. Pinnow Hist. Germany iv. iv. 430 The Imperial Government succeeded..in stabilizing the imperial exchequer by a ruthless restriction of expenditure.

1957 Amer. Antiq. 22 428/1 Ruthless pruning has..actually reduced the length of the book by 150 pages.

1974 E. Bowen Henry & Other Heroes vii. 134 Clipping off consonants with the ruthless precision of a Japanese gardener pruning his bonsai shrubs.

2004 Independent (Compact ed.) 20 Jan. 48/5 Additional sales achieved through ruthless price-cutting failed to stick.