a. [f. SUPPORT sb. + -LESS.]
† 1. That cannot be ‘supported’; insupportable, intolerable. Obs. rare.
1643. Milton, Divorce, II. xx. Wks. 1851, IV. 118. As if they had a designe by making wedlock a supportlesse yoke, to violate it most.
2. Destitute of support, unsupported.
1681. J. Scott, Chr. Life, II. iii. Wks. 1718, I. 240. By giving up the Belief of a God, I …leave my self utterly destitute and supportless.
a. 1717. Parnell, Battle of Frogs & Mice, III. 92. Full on the leg arrives the crushing wound: The frog, supportless, writhes upon the ground.
1744. Warburton, Remarks Sev. Occas. Refl., 118. I left it not [sc. my argument] … naked and supportless; but … standing strongly on its Conclusion.
Hence Supportlessly adv., without support.
1893. F. Thompson, Judgment in Heaven, viii. A sinister chasm,… whose verges soon … Supportlessly congest with fire, and suddenly spit forth the moon.
