namelessadj.n.
/ˈneɪmlᵻs/, U.S. /ˈneɪmlᵻs/ A. adj.† 3. Of a book, letter, etc.: of undeclared authorship or source, anonymous. Obsolete.
1.
a. Not having a distinguished or famous name; devoid of fame, left in obscurity, inglorious.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > obscurity or ingloriousness > [adjective]
namelessc1330
ungloriousa1382
unfamousc1384
unglorifieda1395
unrenowned1525
gloryless1540
obscurec1540
incelebrateda1552
honourlessa1560
unnoted1566
eclipsed1587
irrenowned1590
inglorious1591
ungraced1595
unreputed1596
reputeless1598
unreckoned1599
undistinguished1600
unfamed1609
without name1611
unremarkable1628
uncried up1631
undignified1716
unapplauded1739
uncelebrated1740
renownless1821
bannerlessc1850
untrumpeted1859
anonymous1860
reportlessc1865
unillustrious1885
obscured1891
statusless1899
unarrived1902
c1330 in R. H. Robbins Hist. Poems 14th & 15th Cent. (1959) 141 Fiht is fliht, the lond is nameles.
?a1425 (c1380) G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. iv. pr. v. 8 Pore and nedy and nameles [L. inops ignominiosusque].
c1450 ( J. Walton tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Linc. Cathedral 103) 251 (MED) Nethire þere is no wyse man..Þat rathire wolde be pore and namelesse And in exile, þan flouren in richesse.
a1535 T. More Hist. Richard III in Wks. (1557) 57/1 The other two were somwhat greter parsonages, & Natheles of their humilite content to be nameles.
1582 R. Stanyhurst tr. Virgil First Foure Bookes Æneis ii. 37 Prince Priamus..In shoare nowe namelesse dooth ly lyke a trunchon al headlesse.
a1625 J. Fletcher Bonduca ii. i, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Gggg2v/1 When one is smother'd with a multitude, And crowded in amongst a namelesse presse.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost vi. 380 Nameless in dark oblivion let them dwell. View more context for this quotation
1728 A. Pope Dunciad iii. 157 Lo thousand thousand, ev'ry nameless name.
1798 W. Wordsworth Lines Tintern Abbey in W. Wordsworth & S. T. Coleridge Lyrical Ballads 203 His little, nameless, unremembered acts Of kindness and love.
1813 W. Scott Rokeby iii. 128 Maiden! a nameless life I lead, A nameless death I'll die.
1855 Ld. Tennyson Maud iv. iii, in Maud & Other Poems 16 I am nameless and poor.
1887 C. Bowen tr. Virgil Æneid vi, in tr. Virgil in Eng. Verse 286 Thou hadst laid thee to die on a heap of the nameless dead.
1954 Jrnl. Politics 16 660 A nameless and faceless bureaucracy, a society of managers.
1989 J. Lingard Tug of War v. 59 They were taken off the train, near some nameless town in Poland, and herded into a camp.
b. Of a person: whose name has not been divulged; anonymous; unknown (to a person). Cf. quot. 1589 at sense B.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > naming > anonymity or lack of a name > [adjective] > with undivulged name
namelessa1616
a1616 W. Shakespeare Two Gentlemen of Verona (1623) ii. i. 98 I haue writ your Letter Vnto the secret, nameles friend of yours. View more context for this quotation
1624 T. Gataker Discuss. Transubstant. 36 On the false report of another namelesse author like to himselfe.
1697 E. Stillingfleet Disc. Trinity 173 A certain nameless Socinian was the Author of them.
1708 F. Atterbury 14 Serm. Pref. p. iii Little Credit is due to Accusations of this kind, when they come from suspected (that is, from Nameless) Pens.
1807 G. Crabbe Hall of Justice i, in Poems 241 Yet nameless let me plead—my Name Would only wake the Cry of Scorn.
1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. xv. 576 The two nameless executioners who had done their office..on the scaffold.
1856 T. De Quincey Confessions Eng. Opium-eater (rev. ed.) in Select. Grave & Gay V. 226 A gang of Vandals (nameless, I thank heaven, to me).
1939 Fortune Nov. 28/2 Our nameless correspondent points out that the U.S. Army and National Guard war games are serious business.
1994 Chapman No. 77. 73 The white-stocked, dark-coated men nameless to me then and indistinguishable.
2. Not specified by name, purposely left unnamed, esp. to avoid imputing blame.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > naming > anonymity or lack of a name > [adjective] > not mentioned by name
nameless1381
unnamed1440
the mind > language > naming > anonymity or lack of a name > [adjective] > not specified by name
nameless1381
in R. H. Robbins Hist. Poems 14th & 15th Cent. (1959) 55 Iohan schep..Greteth wel Iohon nameless & Iohn þe mullere.
c1475 Advice to Lovers in J. O. Halliwell Select. Minor Poems J. Lydgate (1840) 31 (MED) Thou tolde me..That thou kneuhest one, nameles of me as nowhe.
a1529 J. Skelton Ware the Hauke (1843) 38 He shall be as now nameles, But he shall not be blameles.
1617 F. Moryson Itinerary iii. 194 A great Prince of Germany (for good respect namelesse).
1653 I. Walton Compl. Angler ii. 46 Another of the company that shall be nameless . View more context for this quotation
1711 R. Steele Spectator No. 91. ⁋1 The Loves of a Family in Town, which shall be nameless.
1800 E. Hervey Mourtray Family II. 38 A certain person, who shall be nameless, is now engaged on Tower duty.
1875 B. Jowett tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) I. 489 On the authority of one who shall be nameless.
1958 Visct. Montgomery Mem. (1961) 34 During the Somme battle that summer an infantry brigade, which had better remain nameless, was to be the leading brigade in a divisional attack.
2000 Front Oct. 145/2 There is a story concerning Herbie Flowers, Sky and a lady cellist who shall remain nameless, but it's a little too off-colour for your magazine.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > naming > anonymity or lack of a name > [adjective] > of unknown authorship or provenance
nameless1529
fatherless1541
authorless1613
anon.?1696
unassigned1868
masterless1899
unattributable1967
1529 T. More Dialogue Heresyes iii, in Wks. 223/1 For ye boke is put forth namelesse, & was in the beginning rekened to be made by Tindal.
1643 W. Prynne in W. Prynne & C. Walker True Relation Prosecution N. Fiennes 5 I received a Note..with a datelesse, namelesse Paper inclosed.
1667 Sir R. Moray in O. Airy Lauderdale Papers (1885) II. 88 There is a Damned book come hither..called Naphtali, or the Wrestlings of the Church of Scotland, &c. nameless.
1786 J. Wesley Wks. (1872) IV. 339 One of the hearers wrote me a nameless letter upon it.
1822 J. Galt Provost xxx. 232 I received a twenty-pound note in a nameless letter.
4. † a. Having no legal right to a name; illegitimate. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > kinsman or relation > child > relationship to parent > [adjective] > illegitimate
cheves-bornOE
misbegetc1325
bastc1330
misbegettenc1330
bastard1376
unlawfula1425
naturalc1425
illegitime1502
base1529
base-begot1534
illegitimate1536
misbegotten1554
bastarded1579
misborn1583
nameless1594
spurious1598
unfathered1600
misgotten1623
misbegot1626
baseborn1645
slip-sprung1665
born in (or under or out of) wedlock1675
side wind1738
love-begotten1761
born on the wrong side of the blanket1771
anonymous1869
sinistral1897
1594 W. Shakespeare Lucrece sig. E1v Thy issue blur'd with namelesse bastardie. View more context for this quotation
1693 J. Dryden tr. Juvenal in J. Dryden et al. tr. Juvenal Satires vi. 119 And into Noble Families advance, A Nameless Issue, the blind work of Chance.
1734 A. Pope Epist. to Visct. Cobham 12 A rev'rend Sire, whom Want of Grace Has made the Father of a Nameless Race.
b. That has not hitherto been named.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > naming > anonymity or lack of a name > [adjective]
unnevenedc1400
unnamed1550
anonymal1587
untituled1610
untitled1612
titlelessa1616
anonymous1625
namelessc1625
innominate1638
innominated1660
unchristened1832
undesignated1875
uncredited1959
c1625 J. Smith Hist. Bermudaes (1882) 9 A Spanish shipp called La Bermuda, wrecked vpon them and by the losse of her selfe, bequeathed her name to the (vntill then) namelesse Ilands.
1638 T. Herbert Some Yeares Trav. (rev. ed.) 333 Iles for the greatest part namelesse and numberlesse.
1719 D. Defoe Farther Adventures Robinson Crusoe 340 We began..to enter upon the vast nameless Desart.
1792 S. Rogers Pleasures Mem. ii. 209 A thousand nameless rills that shun the light.
1820 P. B. Shelley Prometheus Unbound i. i. 29 All the gods Are there, and all the powers of nameless worlds.
1881 A. C. Swinburne Mary Stuart ii. ii. 81 I found..her babe unblessed A nameless piteous thing.
1967 H. Nemerov Coll. Poems (1977) 399 Momentary shapes..nameless as the shapes of sky.
1991 Sky Mag. Feb. 62/2 His 800-square foot adobe house..which he shares with his wife..and eight nameless buffalo.
5. That cannot be definitely named or easily described; inexpressible, indefinable.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > unintelligibility > inexpressibility > [adjective]
unsayinglyOE
wordlessa1200
unanemneda1225
unspeaking1340
untellablea1382
unenarrable1382
unspeakablea1400
ineffablec1450
inenarrablec1450
indicible1480
enarrable1482
inexplicable1502
inspeakable?1504
innominable1532
unoutspeakable1535
unexpressable1548
innarrable1554
inpronunciable1554
uncommunicable1555
inexprimablea1577
unexpressiblea1586
unutterablea1586
expressless1590
nameless1597
recountless1601
inutterable1603
indeclarable1610
unnameable1610
unreportable1611
speakless1612
unexpressivea1616
inexpressiblea1631
utterless1643
inexpressive1652
unwordablec1660
incommunicable1694
paintless1729
descriptionless1749
undelineable1767
describeless1799
indefinable1810
undescribable1818
unqualifiable1822
untelling1823
utterless1832
unpindownable1915
1597 W. Shakespeare Richard II ii. ii. 40 What, I cannot name, tis namelesse woe I wot. View more context for this quotation
a1616 W. Shakespeare Two Gentlemen of Verona (1623) iii. i. 310 She hath many namelesse vertues. View more context for this quotation
1711 A. Pope Ess. Crit. 10 Musick resembles Poetry, in each Are nameless Graces which no Methods teach.
1780 W. Cowper Progress of Error 244 Are all the nameless sweets of friendship fled?
1817 P. B. Shelley Laon & Cythna iii. iv. 59 When, suddenly was blended With our repose a nameless sense of fear.
1850 Ld. Tennyson In Memoriam iv. 4 Such clouds of nameless trouble cross All night below the darken'd eyes. View more context for this quotation
1886 J. Ruskin Præterita II. vii. 256 The nameless ailing of overwearied flesh.
1927 E. Glyn ‘It’ i. 10 He had that nameless charm, with a strong magnetism which can only be called ‘It’.
1972 P. O'Brian Post Captain vii. 182 Those strange sliding keels and the nameless peculiarity of her quickwork did not mean that the water poured straight in.
6. That one shrinks from naming; inexpressibly loathsome; abominable.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > badness or evil > heinousness > [adjective]
awlyc1200
grievousa1300
grilla1300
uglya1300
strongc1300
outrageousa1325
heinousc1374
excessive1393
curseda1400
fella1400
misshapenc1400
rankc1400
monstruousc1425
enorm1481
prodigiousc1487
villainous1489
nefand1490
sceleratea1513
monstrous1531
funestal1538
enormious1545
facinorous1548
flagitious1550
dire1567
bonable1575
felonious1575
bomination1589
unvenial?1589
heathenish1592
enormous1593
villainous1598
nameless1611
pitchy1612
funest1636
funestous1641
scarleta1643
nefandous1649
aversable1663
atrocious1669
frightful1700
flagrant1706
atrocea1734
diabolical1750
unspeakable1831
the mind > emotion > hatred > loathing or detestation > emotion compounded of fear and loathing > [adjective]
horrible1303
horrid1602
nameless1611
shockinga1704
shocking1703
1611 Bible (King James) Wisd. xiv. 27 Worshipping of idoles not to be named [margin namelesse], is the beginning, the cause, and the end of all euill. View more context for this quotation
a1704 T. Brown Satyr against Woman in Wks. (1707) I. i. 84 Of impotent-still-varying Desires; And of ten thousand nameless Vices more, Is this vile Idol made, which Men adore.
1819 P. B. Shelley Cenci v. i. 80 Avenging such a nameless wrong As turns black parricide to piety.
1866 H. P. Liddon Bampton Lect. (1875) vi. 308 Paganism allowed man to sink beneath a flood of nameless sensualities.
1915 V. Woolf Voy. Out ii. 20 She suspected him of nameless atrocities with regard to his daughter.
1981 A. MacLean River of Death i. 13 Shadowy Dantesque figures moved as in some nameless nightmare.
7. Of a grave, tomb, etc.: bearing no name or inscription.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > naming > anonymity or lack of a name > [adjective] > bearing no inscription
nameless1655
1655 T. Stanley Hist. Philos. I. i. 115 Namelesse Altars, monuments of that expiation.
1720 A. Pope Epitaph Rowe in Misc. Poems I. 176 Beneath a rude and nameless stone he lies.
1859 A. A. Procter Legends & Lyrics 1st Ser. 104 Over a nameless grave.
1867 H. Latham Black & White 68 Of these graves 138,901 will be nameless and unidentified.
1951 Public Opinion Q. 15 245 Even the ‘true Aryans’ whom Nazism promised jobs and security, ended their lives in nameless graves.
B. n.
Chiefly literary and poetic. With the: a person whose name is not specified or known; a person who does not have a famous name; a group of such people.In quot. 1589: spec. †an anonymous writer (obsolete).
ΚΠ
1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie i. xxxi. 48 After whom followed Iohn Lydgate.., & that nameles, who wrote the Satyre called Piers Plowman.
1837 T. Carlyle French Revol. III. i. ii. 22 The famed and named go; the nameless, if they have an accuser.
1863 J. Hamilton Poems & Ess. 300 But the nameless, though giftit, are caul' i' the yird, Ere a sang or a word i' their praise she wull mird!
1963 T. Merton Emblems of Season of Fury 53 Who would dare to go nameless in so secure a universe? Yet, to tell the truth, only the nameless are at home in it.
1988 C. Song Frameless Windows 7 The son would..Forfeit what welled within her In order to save the nameless, the cripple, the unspeakable.
Compounds
nameless finger n. now rare the ring finger. [Compare Middle Dutch nāmelōse vinger, Middle Low German nāmelōse vinger, Middle High German der vinger ungenant (German ungenannter Finger (now rare)), early modern German namloß finger (15th cent.), Swedish namnlös finger, all in sense ‘ring finger’, and compare also similarly formed names for the ring finger in many other languages.]
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > external parts of body > limb > digit > finger > [noun] > ring finger
ring fingereOE
leech-fingerc1000
leechc1290
leechman14..
medicinable finger?a1475
ring man?c1475
wedding-finger1543
nameless finger1584
medicinal finger1598
physic finger1621
physical finger1623
physician finger1623
medical finger1653
marriage finger1711
ring digit1867
1584 R. Scot Discouerie Witchcraft xii. xviii. 273 Put thy nameles finger in the wound.
1874 Pall Mall Gaz. 12 Dec. 11 Did the Aryan borrow it from the Turanian, or the Turanian from the Aryan? Then, why should the ring-finger be called the ‘nameless finger’?
1915 T. W. Arnoldson Parts of Body in Older Germanic & Scand. 68 Nameless finger (hdg.), Sw[edish] dial[ect] namnlös (finger), næmlusfinger, næmnusfinger ring finger, lit. nameless finger... MHG. der vinger ungenannt der vierte Finger, Ringfinger, lit. the unnamed finger.
1939 Y. Lin Moment in Peking 61 We pound them [sc. flowers] into pulp and add a little alum, and rub it on the ‘nameless finger’ (third finger).
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.c1330