hopelesse

English

Adjective

hopelesse (comparative more hopelesse, superlative most hopelesse)

1. Obsolete spelling of hopeless.
   • 1613–1614 (date written), John Fletcher, William Shak[e]speare, The Two Noble Kinsmen: […], London: […] Tho[mas] Cotes, for Iohn Waterson;  […], published 1634, →OCLC, Act II, scene iii, page 31:

     And he a prince; To marry him is hopeleſſe;

   • 1622, John Downame, “Of ſuch Reaſons as may mooue vs to abhor carnall ſecuritie, and to vſe all meanes either to preuent it, or to be freed from it” (chapter VIII), in A Guide to Godlynesse: or, A Treatise of A Christian Life, page 53:

     And euen in acute ſickneſſes, as Feauers and burning Agues, we account the patient moſt hopeleſſe and helpleſſe, when as he is paſt feeling of his ſickneſſe.