a. [f. SPRING sb.1]
1. Having no motive power. rare–1.
1684. T. Burnet, Theory Earth, I. 213. Those were springless machines, that act only by some external cause.
b. Of persons: Spiritless; inert.
1885. Stevenson, Prince Otto, I. i. A springless, putty-hearted, cowering coward!
2. Deprived of the power of springing.
1823. Blackw. Mag., XIV. 314. They remind me of a mutchkin of wasps in a bottle,… helpless, hopeless, stingless, wingless, springless.
3. Of vehicles, etc.: Lacking springs; having no spring.
1837. Fraser’s Mag., XV. 639. A long, narrow, and springless caravan.
1860. All Year Round, No. 73. 550. The heavy vehicle … which … clatters by, as springless as an artillery tumbril.
1880. Jefferies, Greene Ferne Farm, 88. A sudden jolt of the springless waggon.
4. Devoid of a spring of water.
1876. Ruskin, Fors Clav., lxxii. 380. As the seed by the drought,… so the soul … athirst in the springless sand.
5. Having no spring season. In quot. fig.
1909. Spectator, 5 June, 896/2.
| But springless as my prospect lies, | |
| I see God’s sunshine when your eyes | |
| Smile welcome unaffected. |
