pithlessadj.

1555 W. Waterman tr. J. Boemus Fardle of Facions ii. viii. 181 No yncke~horne termes, nor pithlesse pratling.

1594 J. Dickenson Arisbas Ep. Ded. sig. A iij The saplesse frutes of greene youth, & pithlesse blossomes of a simple Authors vnripe wit.

1656 J. Trapp Comm. 2 Tim. iii. 5 Hollow professors are as hollow trees..tall, but pithless, sapless, unsound.

1728 A. Ramsay On seeing Archers divert Themselves 27 Pithless limbs in silks o'er-clad.

1779 H. Downman Lucius Junius Brutus ii. ii. 34 An oak..Who many a hard campaign hath weather'd out, Cover'd with scars, yet tho' with sinews shrunk And pithless limbs now bending o'er his staff, Still claiming veneration.

1817 H. T. Colebrooke Algebra Notes & Illustr. p. xlv Omitting..superfluous and pithless matter.

1879 S. Baring-Gould Germany II. 273 Leaning on these hollow, pithless reeds.

1896 J. K. Snowden Web of Old Weaver xviii. 202 Moithered to know what she could find to better my strength, because I seemed to be pithless and low.

1948 H. J. Hansen Timber Engineers' Handbk. iii. 30 Side Cut (pithless). The term used when pith is not present in a piece.

1979 R. Dahl My Uncle Oswald (1980) i. 10 I was beginning to get a bit bored with these young English girls. They were..a pretty pithless lot.

1998 Independent 1 Aug. (Mag.) 41/2 Seven perfect pithless segments [of orange] appeared in an arrangement which looked like the Sydney Opera House.

1884 J. Parker Apostolic Life III. 217 If we speak it pithlessly, it takes rank with any words short and empty.

1987 Times (Nexis) 31 Jan. Pare the peel pithlessly from one orange and cut into julienne.