giltless

English

Etymology 1

Adjective

giltless (comparative more giltless, superlative most giltless)

1. (obsolete) Guiltless; not guilty.
   • 1649, Letter from Lord Dillon to George Lane, March 23, 1649:

     Ther is noe doute butt the cuntrie has beene at a highe expense in maintaininge thos forces, and of theyr stringth nowe in time of neede there is noe visable signe; lett the faulte light where it will I am confident I am giltless;

   • 1798, David Garrick, The Dramatic Works of David Garrick:

     Come, come, my good shepherds, our flocks we must shear, In your holy-day suits, with your lasses appear; The happiest of folk, are the giltless and free And who are so giltless so happy as we ?

   • 1821, Retrospective Review - Volume 3, page 105:

     Sacred and just, thou great and dreadfull Jove, And you thrice reverende powers, whom love nor hate May wrest awry, if this to me a man, This fortune fatall bee, that I must pleade For safe excusall of my giltless thought,

   • 1824, William Henry Pyne, Somerset House Gazette, and Literary Museum:

     O Death rocke me on slepe, Bringe me on quiet reste, Let passe my merye giltless goste, Out of my careful brest; Toll on the passinge bell, Ringe out the dolefull knell, Let the sounde my dethe tell, For I must dye,

Etymology 2

Adjective

giltless (comparative more giltless, superlative most giltless)

1. Not gilded; lacking gilt.
   • 1865, The Cypresses - Volume 1, page 249:

     Masses of these same anemones, mingled with plumes of their feathery green leaves, and interspersed with blossomed twigs from trees of cherry, peach, and almond, filled a curious old e/pergne in the centre of the table, while on an ancient, almost giltless, gilt console, beneath a mirror that reflected the stainless blue of the sky, was a large, richly-blossomed branch of the white almond.

   • 1961, The New Yorker - Volume 37, Part 3, page 121:

     And looks—well, we conscientiously work at keeping our lilies giltless.

   • 1982, John B. Sanford, A man without shoes: a novel, page 142:

     He took his eyes on a sight-seeing tour of the room, pausing here and there at points of interest: an oak sideboard tattooed with circular soaks of ink; a buckhorn hatrack; four stuttering chairs left from a silent set of six; an engraving of The Horse Fair, now foxed; a row of giltless books; a waffled couch that for ten years had served as a boy's bed ; and a map of the United States.

   • 1990, Colin Inman, The A & C Black Colour Books: A Collector's Guide and Bibliography, page 47:

     Giltless on its front, a sign of more difficult times economically, this is nonetheless a fine book, Sutton Palmer's illustrations admirably complemented by Miss Mitton's text, which was written just before she married Sir George Scott and left the firm.