SLEEVELESS

PRONUNCIATION: (SLEEV-luhs/lis)

MEANING: adjective:
1. Unprofitable; futile; unreasonable; irrelevant.
2. Without sleeves.

ETYMOLOGY: From sleeve, from Old English sliefe + less, from Old English laes (less). Earliest documented use: 950. Also see shirtsleeve.

NOTES: What does a sleeve have to do with profit? In former times, a lady would give her detachable sleeve (also known as a maunch/manche, from French) to a knight as a symbol of love and he would wear it as he went around in his adventures. A knight without a sleeve was, well, sleeveless. The Encyclopedia Britannica (1880) mentions: “Bayard took a lady’s sleeve and proclaimed it, with a valuable ruby, as a prize to be contended for.”
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SLEEVELETS - tiny openings in the fingers of gloves, to display the fingertips

SLEEVELASS - an itinerant seamstress who rides around repairing worn elbow holes for the Bourgeoisie (true gentry wouldn't stoop to having worn clothing repaired)

SLEEVELES - a nonsense word meaning a mild illness - see A.A.Milne: "Christopher Robin had Weevils and Sleeveles; they bundled him up in his bed..." etc. ;-)