brainlessadj.

R. Misyn tr. R. Rolle Mending of Life 107 Ffro vices he flees als man braynles, & to wardly solace he lokis nott.

c1475 (a1449) J. Lydgate Order of Fools (Laud) in Minor Poems (1934) ii. 450 (MED) Braynles, maad, and wood, Is he that neuer wyll forsake his synne.

1496 (c1410) Dives & Pauper (de Worde) v. xxiv. 230 Yf the prynce be..frentyke or braynles.

c1500 Blowbols Test. l. 303 in W. C. Hazlitt Remains Early Pop. Poetry Eng. (1864) I. 105 Braynles as a Marshe hare.

1568 V. Skinner tr. R. González de Montes Discouery Inquisition of Spayne f. 82 Some caught vncurable diseases and paines in the head, & became almost brainlesse.

a1439 J. Lydgate Fall of Princes (Bodl. 263) vi. l. 3476 (MED) Men seen alday..hasti foolis rude And braynles peeple, of wilful necligence..Vttringe ther speche.

a1500 (?c1440) J. Lydgate Horse, Goose & Sheep (Lansd.) l. 423 in Minor Poems (1934) ii. 557 And soudiours that braynles been & wood.

1575 W. Drury in T. Churchyard Chippes f. 41^v George Cary, I haue receiued your brainlesse letter.

1603 S. Harsnett Declar. Popish Impostures 137 Geoffry Chaucer,..spying that all these brainlesse imaginations, of witchings, possessings, house-hanting, and the rest, were the forgeries..of craftie priests.

1694 P. A. Motteux tr. F. Rabelais Pantagruel's Voy.: 4th Bk. Wks. xxxii. 131 She drew all the witless herd..and was admir'd by all brainless and nonsensical People.

1707 N. Tate Injur'd Love 71 Nymphs shorn t'equip a brainless Beau with Hair, And brawny booby lugg'd in Lady-Chair.

1796 S. T. Coleridge Poems 50 The Apostate by the brainless rout ador'd.

1812 G. Colman Poet. Vagaries 91 The busy-bodied, brainless Knight.

1863 Cornhill Mag. Feb. 180 To what shifts a brainless man is put about.

1927 S. Lewis Elmer Gantry vii. 114 He didn't want to marry this brainless little fluffy chick.

1969 P. Roth Portnoy's Complaint 211 Here comes another dumb and stupid remark out of that brainless twat.

2007 J. Stephenson Morningside Murders ix. 99 The prejudices that this brainless act creates remains with most students through graduation.

1549 J. Ponet tr. B. Ochino Tragoedie Unjuste Usurped Primacie sig. E.iv^v O braynles head.

1574 tr. Life 70. Archbishopp Canterbury To Rdr. sig. Cv A very charnell howse off brainslesse vnlearned skulles.

1611 J. Speed Hist. Great Brit. vii. xxxvi. 359/1 A brainlesse body.

1629 E. Sandys Europæ Speculum 225 Theyr holinesse is the very outward worke it selfe being a brainlesse head & a soule-lesse body.

1658 R. Brathwait Age of Apes in Honest Ghost 238 Have you heard such a crue of brainless Skulls?

1768 Philos. Trans. 1767 (Royal Soc.) 57 17 And yet all these brainless fœtuses are very lively.

1775 G. Motherby New Med. Dict. Anencephalos, brainless, or those who are born without brains; also those who are foolish or mad.

1834 Amer. Jrnl. Med. Sci. 5 220 Dr. B. opened the cloth, and was astonished beyond measure at finding the brainless infant breathing.

1854 Assoc. Med. Jrnl. 2 371/2 On the removal of this portion of the animal organism [sc. the medulla spinalis] this irritability becomes indicated in a more simple manner, e.g. in the brainless and marrowless monstrosity.

1890 W. James Princ. Psychol. I. ii. 77 Schrader gives a striking account of the instinctless condition of his brainless pigeons.

1971 D. Parfit in T. Honderich & M. Burnyeat Philos. as it Is (1979) 187 We suppose that my brain is transplanted into someone else's (brainless) body.

2005 N. U. Salmon Metaphysics, Math., & Meaning xi. 222 Just as it is logically possible for a tin man to lack a heart yet live, it is likewise logically possible for a brainless scarecrow to be magically conscious, even impressively clever.

1610 J. Healey tr. St. Augustine Citie of God vi. vi. 245 I thinke no man so brainlessly sottish.

1851 T. De Quincey Lit. Reminisc. I. xi. 328 Others, so gross and vulgar in style of mind as this Holcroft, this Thelwall, this—(what is his name?)—were as brainlessly feared by Mr. Pitt's cabinet as ever Bottom was adored by Titania.

1920 Pop. Sci. Monthly June 89/2 (advt.) Nothing looks more ridiculous than a spinning tire—nothing more brainlessly extravagant.

1984 J. Varley Demon (1987) 4 There were hordes of skittering little bolexes, brainlessly pointing themselves in all directions and whirring fruitlessly, too stupid to know they needed re-loading.

2006 New Yorker 26 June 44/1 I brainlessly devoured mine with ice-cream headachy speed.

1832 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. June 933/1 The peasantry were not much more effective, from the blundering and brainlessness that belong to all life outside the walls of cities.

1884 Cent. Mag. Nov. 59 A good deal of hard swearing at his brainlessness.

1921 B. G. Brawley Short Hist. Eng. Drama v.73 The sentimentalism of the Duke,..the brainlessness of Sir Andrew,..and the fine satire on the Puritans in the self-importance of Malvolio, all work together in harmonious accord.

2003 Eastern Eye 3 Oct. (E Mag.) 5/1 The sequel..features the same male duo..playing the pranksters Santo and Banto, who're the last word in brainlessness.