A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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About this entry:
First published 2002 (DOST Vol. XI).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1513-1533, 1629
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Wapynles, Wap(p)inles, Weaponless, adj. [ME and e.m.E. wepneles (Gower), wapenlesse (1537), weaponlesse (1548).] Unarmed, without a weapon or weapons. Also fig. —1513 Doug. xii xii 96.
Swyftar than the wynd he fled … Quhen that he saw hys rycht hand wapynles [Ruddim. wappinles] 1533 Boece 417a.
The noblis … war wapinles —fig. 1629 Rutherford Lett. (1894) 45.
My captain, Christ, hath said, I must fight and overcome the world, and with a weak, spoiled, weaponless devil
