a. Sc. [Of uncertain origin; first in Ramsay, ? misreading of earlier theueles, THEWLESS, to which it answers in sense.] Void of energy, ineffectual, aimless; spiritless, not serious; cold, without warmth of manner.
1725. Ramsay, Gentle Sheph., I. i. She can wi a right thieveless errand back.
1786. Burns, Brigs of Ayr, 89. Wi’ thieveless sneer to see his modish mien, He, down the water, gies him this guid-e’en.
1835. Carrick, Laird of Logan, 289 (E.D.D.). She answered in a gay thieveless-like way.
1897. R. M. Fergusson, Vill. Poet, xlii. 80. He … appeared listless, or, as he himself expressed it, ‘rale thieveless.’
b. ‘Applied to weather in a sort of intermediate or uncertain state. Thus, a thieveless day is one that has no decided character, neither properly good nor bad’ (Jamieson, s.v. Thewles).
