a. [f. SUBJECT sb. + -LESS.]
1. Having no subject of interest.
1803. Jane Porter, Thaddeus (Warne), 101. Sick of his subjectless and dragging conversation.
1889. Universal Rev., 15 Feb., 249. The subjectless dulness of modern design.
2. With no subjects to rule.
1840. Carlyle, Heroes, vi. 370. The subjects without King can do nothing; the subjectless King can do something.
3. Of a proposition, sentence, verb: Having no subject.
1874. Supernat. Relig., II. II. vi. 51. With nothing more definite than a subjectless φησί to indicate who is referred to.
1875. M. Arnold, God & Bible, v. 269. It is not true that the author … wields the subjectless he says in the random manner alleged.
1902. trans. Brentano’s Knowl. Right & Wrong, App. 115. Miklosich expressed the view that the finite verb of subjectless propositions always stands in the third person of the singular.
