dreadless

dreadless

English

Etymology

From Middle English dredles, dredeles, equivalent to dread +‎ -less.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdɹɛdləs/

Adjective

dreadless (comparative more dreadless, superlative most dreadless)

1. Feeling no dread or fear; unafraid.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I.vi:

     So doubly is distrest twixt ioy and cares / The dreadlesse courage of this Elfin knight, / Hauing escapt so sad ensamples in his sight.

   • 1603, John Florio, transl.; Michel de Montaigne, chapter 40, in The Essayes, […], book I, printed at London: By Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821:

     And to make shew of his dreadlesse magnanimitie, having caused a pan of burning coales to be brought, he saw and suffred his right arme […] to be parched and wel-nigh rosted-off […].

2. (obsolete) Exempt from danger which causes dread; secure.
   • Spenser

     Safe in his dreadless den.

Derived terms

• dreadlessness

Anagrams

• resaddles