ransomlessadj.

c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) ii. 6870 (MED) Þe force of deth þis quarel schal dareyne Vp-on þe and vp-on þi blod, Raunsomles outher of gold or good.

1594 W. Shakespeare Titus Andronicus i. i. 274 Raunsomles here we set our prisoners free. View more context for this quotation

1645 J. Milton Tetrachordon 12 A ransomles captivity.

1676 T. Hobbes tr. Homer Iliads i. 98 Till she be to her Father sent..ransomless.

1690 T. Betterton Prophetess iv. i. 55 Enjoy your Empire, Ransomless return.

1736 A. Hill tr. Voltaire Zara i. i. 10 Go, ransomless, thy self.

1796 A. Seward Lett. (1811) IV. 265 Fingal..releases him ransomless.

1816 C. R. Maturin Bertram iv. ii. 57 Fell and horrible I'm sealed, shut down in ransomless perdition.

1846 H. W. Torrens Remarks Uses Mil. Hist. 145 As ransomless prisoners after a battle.

1873 J. A. Symonds Stud. Greek Poets viii. 244 The Athenians released Dorieus ransomless and scatheless.

1927 R. A. Taylor Leonardo ii. v. 201 It is as if a passion for preciousness wreaked itself on every visible thing, seizing upon surfaces intrinsically priceless to burden them with a ransomless excess of art.

1964 Daily Chron. (Centralia, Washington) 17 Oct. 1/2 The hallmark of political action, leftwing style, is becoming the short-term ransomless style kidnap, designed to embarrass the government.

1988 A. Dorfman Mascara i. 41 I would have been able to seize them and hold them ransomless forever.