germlessadj.

1810 J. Galt Let. 29 Apr. (1813) No. 38 But winnower of Kings, thyself, as the corn That floats in the fanner, and flies from the flail, Found light in the balance and germless, in scorn The Lord will disperse.

1847 L. Oken Elements Physiophilos. 8 385 The germinal leaves or plumula must be also wanting; they are therefore germless, or anembryonic.

1896 Agric. Gaz. New South Wales 6 455 The spermatheca of an unfertilised queen is filled with a hyaline opalescent fluid containing germless cells.

1910 Amer. Poultry Advocate 19 31/1 Most ovaries of fowls are germless.

1957 Amer. Jrnl. Bot. 44 4/1 When the ripened [lily] capsules are examined, a small but regular percentage of germless seeds is to be found.

1988 Internat. Rev. Cytol. 112 125 In a few cases the endosperm appears normal, but the kernel does not have an embryo (called germless).

2002 N. R. Reddy & S. K. Sathe Food Phytates xxi. ‘Germless’ mutants occur frequently in mutagenized maize populations.

1869 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 21 Aug. 214/1 These [germs] probably exist in veins or areas, variously intersecting germless portions of atmosphere.

1883 H. Drummond Nat. Law in Spiritual World (1884) 62 If the air were absolutely germless and pure, would the..life appear?

1919 A. P. Terhune Lad iii. 53 ‘Lad is just as clean and as germless as I am,’ declared the Mistress, with some warmth. ‘There isn't a day he doesn't swim in the lake, and there isn't a day I don't brush him.’

1966 Pop. Mech. June 203/1 The way we live, the perfect germless home doesn't seem possible.

2008 E. Park Personal Days ii. 184 Touching money would compromise the germless state of his freshly scrubbed hands.