Etymology Unknown. Perhaps derived from Old English þeatless (“thoughtless, without plan”). See also deedless.
1
Out of one's head; deranged.
Poor soul, she's gone dateless, I think, with care, and watching, and overmuch trouble; and who can wonder?1848, Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, Mary Barton, page 98:
and he were put in York prison and tried and hung – hung! Charley! – kind father was hung on a gallows and mother lost sense and grew silly in grief and we were like to be turned on t' wide world and poor mother dateless1863, Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, Sylvia's Lovers, page 135:
1 more example
An' they geet howd on her, and carried her into Sally Grimshaw's, an' laid her upo' th' couch cheer, as dateless as a stone !1881, Edwin Waugh, “The Dead Man's Dinner”, in Tufts of heather, page 307:
Into the court you'd swanned, you dateless little pillock, if not wholly confident of winning, surely careless of losing.1997, Peter O'Toole, Loitering with Intent: The Apprentice, →ISBN, page 281:
You dateless fool, you stupid ass, clamped to / This crag for all eternity1976, Fred Beake, Legends from Mammon, page 8:
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"You dateless article," stormed his father, leaving Bennett to realise in his laconic way that he was, and probably always would be, a disappointment to Dad.2001 August 4, Lynne Walker, “Classical: Musical portrait of the artist as a young man”, in The Independent:
dateless
adj
Etymology Coined between 1585 and 1595 from date + -less
1
Without a date imprinted, assigned, or associated.
The other day was dateless, even for my dateless life; for I had forgotten time and had no notion of anything anywhere, when in a small French town I strolled into a cafe noisy with French talk.1936, G. K. Chesterton, The Autobiography:
2
Having no date—a meeting with a lover or potential lover.
It is hard to believe that she could be dateless on a Saturday night.
They were good friends, completely at ease with each other, and when they both ended up dateless on a Friday night, as they often did, they usually ended up eating pizza and watching scary movies together.2015, Cathryn Fox, Love Lessons, →ISBN:
3
Timeless; immortal
the dateless and irrevoluble circle of eternity1641 May, John Milton, Of Reformation Touching Church-Discipline in England: And the Causes that hitherto have Hindred it. […], [London]: […] Thomas Vnderhill, →OCLC:
Then can I drown an eye, unused to flow, / For precious friends hid in death's dateless night1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 30”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC: