endless
adj/ˈɛndlɪs/ · /ˈɛndləs/
Etymology From Middle English endeles, from Old English endelēas (“endless”), from Proto-Germanic *andijalausaz (“endless”), equivalent to end + -less.
1
Having no end.
- endless time; endless praise
- Trains from Lime Street to Edge Hill were hauled by an endless hempen rope worked by a stationary engine on the platform at the latter station.1942 May-June, “Cable Operation at Liverpool and London”, in Railway Magazine, page 174:
2
Extending indefinitely.
- an endless line
3
Too much or many to be exhausted; an extremely high number or amount of; immeasurable, innumerable.
- In 1903, [Albert Shhoenhut] announced his Humpty Dumpty circus, with over 20 figures and animals, each with six joints enabling them to be put into endless positions.1971, Gwen White, Antique Toys And Their Background, page 64:
4
Obsolete Without profitable end; fruitless; unsatisfying.
- All loves are endless.c. 1615–1616, Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, “Loves Pilgramage, a Comedy”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act II, scene iii:
- Derived terms
- endless belt, endless chain, endless loop, endlessly, endlessness, endless runner, endless saw, endless screw, endless September, endless war
- Coordinate terms
- beginningless