deedless

From deed +‎ -less; obsolete sense is from earlier dadless, probably from Old Norse dáðlauss (“without virtue, incapable, lacking in courage and drive, despicable, cowardly”). Cognate with Danish dådløs (“non-heroic”), Swedish dådlös (“listless, shiftless”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈdiːdləs/
• Rhymes: -iːdləs

deedless (comparative more deedless, superlative most deedless)

1. (of real property) Of real property whose owners' claim is not evidence by formal record of ownership, such as a deed.
2. (obsolete) Helpless; not performing, or not having performed, deeds or exploits; inactive.
   • 1602, William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida, act IV, scene v, line 97:

     firm of word, / Speaking in deeds and deedless in his tongue

• dateless

• Chambers's Etymological Dictionary, 1896, p. 114
• “deedless”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “deedless”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.