supportlessadj.

1602 tr. B. Guarini Il Pastor Fido sig. M4 Heauen is enrag'd at your supportlesse spight, To loue and deepe despising so humane affectes.

1643 J. Milton Doctr. Divorce 43 As if they had a designe by making wedlock a supportles yoke, to violate it most.

1739 D. Mallet Mustapha v. vi. 76 Gracious heaven In mercy to mankind has made life short; Else wrongs and sufferings, our sure portion here, Would be supportless load.

1658 C. Gilbert Soveraign Antidote 49 Til Christ be the Rule of all our studies, they will be fruitless, being without Rule... Til he be the ground and the strength thereof, they will prove groundless and supportless still.

1685 J. Scott Christian Life: Pt. II I. iii. 173 By giving up the Belief of a God, I..leave my self utterly destitute and supportless.

1717 T. Parnell tr. Homer's Battle Frogs & Mice iii. 92 Full on the Leg arrives the crushing Wound, The Frog supportless, wriths upon the Ground.

1744 W. Warburton Remarks Occas. Refl. 118 I left it [sc. my argument] not..naked and supportless; but..standing strongly on its Conclusion.

1800 Beauties of Press 472 When they are not able to pay for deceipt, blindness, and cruelty, all these supports fly from underneath them; and having previously renounced the people, they are left supportless, and crumble into nothing.

1829 Age iv. 137 Once flourished slavery, a mighty tree Whose roots sucked all the nourishment, and left All other plants supportless.

1869 E. L. Mitford Poems 116 Feet-down I fell! Grasping the air, supportless, every nerve Strain'd tight in torture by the shrinking soul.

1898 L. C. van Noppen tr. J. van den Vondel Lucifer i. 288 Who is it on His Throne, high-seated,..whose might, Supportless, yet itself maintaineth.

1903 Monist 13 245 False estimates of it and unfounded teachings about it are shown to be supportless.

1916 Photo-miniature Sept. 372 The illumination from any light-source, except supportless incandescent globes like the sun, varies very greatly in different parts of this imaginary sphere.

1969 V. V. Mirashi & N. R. Navlekar Kālidāsa vi. 296 In place of the miracle of a voice from heaven we have here the miracle of Bodhisattva sitting supportless in the air.

1997 Econ. & Polit. Weekly 3 May 927/3 They have been asked to come and stand in the dock. Defenceless and supportless, they may have to.

1893 F. Thompson Judgm. in Heaven viii A sinister chasm,..whose verges soon..Supportlessly congest with fire, and suddenly spit forth the moon.

1967 D. Chitre tr. M. Oak in D. Chitre Anthol. Marathi Poetry 175 We go in all directions In this city of nothing..Streets and buildings ambush us Suddenly we strike roots Guarding their real estate Support is Supportlessly established Buried deep, we Are sure and secure.

1993 V. Seth Suitable Boy (U.K. ed.) xxv. 439 Miraculously, however, Sajid's cigarette had not been dislodged, and was hanging down from his lip as supportlessly as ever.