a. [f. SPORT sb.1 + -LESS.] Destitute or devoid of sport; marked by the absence of sport.
1621. G. Sandys, Ovid’s Met., II. (1626), 28. The Fishes to the bottom diue: nor dare The sportlesse Dolphins tempt the sultrie Ayre.
1631. P. Fletcher, Pisc. Ecl., vii. 1. Her weeping eyes in pearled dew she steeps, Casting what sportlesse nights she ever led.
1895. Baily’s Mag., May, 356. The use of the minnow … is a method of taking fish which is sportless, artless, and as bad as anything I know.
