a. [f. LIVER sb.1 + -LESS.] That has no liver; deprived of the liver; also fig. of one whose liver does not perform its functions.
1598. I. M., Seruingmans Comfort (1868), 164. My poore maisterlesse, and Lyuerylesse, nay Lyuerlesse and Hartlesse brother in Christ.
1864. C. Clarke, Box for Season, I. 107. Liverless bachelors, all cayenne pepper, turtle, and Peruvian cyanokaita.
1886. ‘Hugh Conway,’ Living or Dead, II. xiv. Such a peppery diet would make me as liverless and heartless as [etc.].
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., IV. 37. A healthy frog received 0·016 milligramme [of strychnine] subcutaneously without any ill effect; while a smaller dose (0·012) killed the liverless one with violent convulsions.
