handkerchiefless

English

Etymology

handkerchief +‎ -less

Adjective

handkerchiefless (not comparable)

1. Without a handkerchief or handkerchieves.
   • 1862, Albany de Grenier Fonblanque, A tangled skein:

     The younger children were mere pocket-handkerchiefless brats, whose mission on earth seemed to be to get in the way and have their ears boxed...

   • 1916, Foreign Christian Missionary Society, The Missionary intelligencer:

     I saw a million handkerchiefless children. I saw hundreds of villages in which the community handkerchief, modern sanitation, was absolutely unknown.

   • 1922, Eliakim Littell, Robert S Littell, The Living Age:

     ...she was brought up in California, and only came to England when her character was formed ; but I never expected to have a handkerchiefless friend.

   • 1924, John Augustus Lapp, editor, The Nation's Health:

     A sudden sneeze may soil the hands, especially of a handkerchiefless patient, two minutes after they are washed...