sackless meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

sackless

adj

Etymology From sack + -less.

Without a sack.

The first act consisted of dancing, capering, and tumbling, by about twenty men, enveloped in sacks […] At length, at a given signal by the manager, the whole troop of actors rushed to the spot; they were then sackless, but their features were effectually concealed by masks reaching to the bosom.1830, The Spirit of the English Magazines, page 200:

sackless

adj

Etymology From Middle English sakles, sacless (“innocent”), from Old English saclēas (“free from charge, innocent, safe”), from Proto-Germanic *sakalausaz (“free from accusation”), equivalent to sake + -less. Cognate with Danish sagesløs (“blameless”), Swedish saklös (“blamesless”), Icelandic saklaus (“innocent”), Faroese sakleysur (“unoffending, innocent”). More at sake, -less.

Northern England, Archaic, Poetic Blameless, guiltless, innocent.

[…] And where that sackless knight lies slain, […] The candles will burn bright.1838, Walter Scott, The Poetical Works of Sir Walter Scott: with the author's introductions and notes, page 196:
[…] and how Thorir of Garth would not that Grettir should be made sackless.1900, Eiríkur Magnússon, William Morris, The Story of Grettir the Strong, page 149: