worthlessadj.n.

1573 G. Gascoigne Disc. Aduentures Master F. I. in Hundreth Sundrie Flowres 203 After many pretie deuises spent in youth, for the obtayning a worthles victorie, [he] might consume and consummate his age in discribing the right pathway to perfect felicitie.

1594 W. Shakespeare Titus Andronicus v. iii. 116 Me thinkes I doe digresse too much, Cyting my worthles praise. View more context for this quotation

a1616 W. Shakespeare Two Gentlemen of Verona (1623) iv. ii. 6 But Siluia is..too holy, To be corrupted with my worthlesse guifts. View more context for this quotation

1664 J. Dryden Rival Ladies Ded. sig. A2 My Lord, this worthless Present was design'd you, long before it was a Play.

1709 M. Prior Poems Several Occasions 32 Scorning at Night the worthless Prey; We find the Labour gave the Joy.

1726 W. Broome in A. Pope et al. tr. Homer Odyssey IV. xviii. 435 A worthless triumph o'er a worthless foe!

1785 W. Cowper Epist. to J. Hill in Task 286 Can gold grow worthless that has stood the touch?

1823 W. Scott Quentin Durward II. xiii. 319 Why should I occasion more bloodshed than has already taken place on so worthless an account?

1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. vii. 208 The indulgence..was clogged by conditions which made it almost worthless.

1885 Manch. Examiner 11 Nov. 3/1 The book seems to us about as worthless as a book can be without being morally offensive.

1904 R. J. Farrer Garden of Asia 13 Second-hand impressions are as worthless as second-hand morality.

1958 A. Wilson Middle Age of Mrs Eliot ii. 151 It was filled..with a jumble of pleasing, valuable antique furniture and hideous, worthless bric-a-brac.

1973 T. Crouse Boys on Bus i. vii. 159 Later in the year, I would come across the same mammoth PR operation, the same desire to classify the most trivial and worthless information.

2002 D. Aitkenhead Promised Land ii. 21 Dealers assumed their stocks would be worthless, but on the contrary, everyone wanted one.

1576 G. Pettie Petite Pallace 146 There is no reason but you should bee saued, if I may terme it sauing, the hauing of so worthles a wife as my selfe.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 1 (1623) v. vii. 53 So worthlesse Pezants bargaine for their Wiues, As Market men for Oxen, Sheepe, or Horse. View more context for this quotation

1619 F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Maides Trag. ii. sig. C4^v Asp... Perhaps he found me worthlesse.

1619 J. Taylor Kicksey Winsey sig. B5^v Seuenthly, and last's a worthy worthlesse crew, Such as heau'n hates.

1671 J. Milton Samson Agonistes 1020 The Timnian bride Had not so soon preferr'd Thy Paranymph, worthless to thee compar'd. View more context for this quotation

1713 J. Addison Cato iv. 46 Am I then doom'd to fall By a Boy's Hand?..and for a worthless Woman?

a1790 B. Franklin Autobiogr. (1981) i. 52 He was a worthless Fellow tho' an excellent Workman.

1852 H. B. Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin II. xxix. 152 They get lazy..and take to drinking, and go all down to be mean, worthless fellows.

1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. xx. 384 A worthless adventurer, whose only recommendation was that he was a Papist.

1881 M. E. Braddon Asphodel III. 300 I am very sorry that an honest man..should have been fooled by a worthless girl.

1940 R. Wright Native Son iii. 345 We have but the bare word of this worthless ape to go on.

1993 T. Hawkins Pepper xiii. 257 Sit down, you worthless shit. Utterly worthless. Parasite.

2004 Working Mother July 40/1 I felt worthless because I had allowed us to get into this financial mess.