1. Destitute of friends. † Friendless man: in OE. law a frequent designation for an outlaw.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., John xiv. 18. Ne forlet ic iuih freondleasa ic cymmo to iuih.
a. 1035. Laws of Cnut, II. § 35 (Schmid). Gif freondleas man ȝeswenced weorþe.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., 331/292. So freondlese ase huy were.
c. 1330. Amis and Amiloun, 1559.
| A frendleser man than he was | |
| Men n’ist no whar is on. |
c. 1400. Beryn, 1721.
| For now [ful] frendlese | |
| Yee mowe wel sey[e] þat ye been. |
1552. Abp. Hamilton, Catech. (1884), 31. Cursit and wariit is he that pervertis the jugement of ane puir strangeir ane freindles man or woman or wedow.
1613. Shaks., Hen. VIII., III. i. 81. Alas, I am a Woman frendlesse, hopelesse.
1664. South, Serm. (1737), II. ii. 68. Woe to him that is alone, is verified upon none so much, as upon the Friendless Person.
1847. Longf., Ev., II. i. Friendless, homeless, hopeless, they wandered from city to city.
absol. a. 1035. Laws of Cnut, II. § 35 (Schmid). Be freondleasan.
1526. Tindale, James i. 27. To vysit the frendlesse and widdowes in their adversite.
a. 1777. Fawkes, Nathan’s Parable, 28.
| The lamb fourfold he likewise shall restore, | |
| To recompense the friendless and the poor. |
2. Used by Shelley = UNFRIENDLY.
1818. Shelley, Rev. Islam, III. xiii.
| One bare | |
| A lighted torch, and four with friendless care | |
| Guided my steps the cavern-paths along. |
Hence Friendlessness.
1812. Byron, Ch. Har., II. vii.
| The seeming friendlessness of him who strove | |
| To win no confidence, and wake no love. |
1854. J. S. C. Abbott, Napoleon (1855), I. iv. 72. She experienced the most afflictive reverses of friendlessness, bereavement, imprisonment, and penury.
