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Contrary to, or unauthorized by, law; illegal; as, a lawless claim. He needs no indirect nor lawless course. Shak.

Destitute of claws.

Free from flaws. Boyle.

Lawless; anarchical. [R.] We are in the habit of calling those bodies of men anarchal which are in a state of effervescence. Landor.

ce of government; the state of society where there is no law or supreme power; a state of lawlessness; political confusion. Spread anarchy and terror all around. Cowper.

s at some game in which each strives to drive the ball his own way. Fit to bandy with thy lawless sons. Shak.

A lawless or blackmailing secret society, esp. among Italians. [U. S.]

a front like brass; as, a brazen countenance. Brazen age. (a) (Myth.) The age of war and lawlessness which succeeded the silver age. (b) (Archæol.) See under Bronze. -- Brazen sea (Jewish Antiq.), a large laver of brass, placed in Solomon's temple for the use of the priests.

A lawless fellow who lives by plunder; one of a band of robbers; especially, one of a gang living in mountain retreats; a highwayman; a freebooter. Giving them not a little the air of brigands or banditti. Jeffery.

A body of followers; -- applied to the lawless or brigand bands in Italy and Sicily.

Not complying with the restraints of order and law; tumultuous; unruly; lawless; turbulent; as, disorderly people; disorderly assemblies.

A lawless military adventurer, especially one in quest of plunder; a freebooter; -- originally applied to buccaneers infesting the Spanish American coasts, but introduced into common English to designate the followers of Lopez in his expedition to Cuba in 1851, and those of Walker in his expedition to Nicaragua, in 185…

A young rowdy; a rough, lawless fellow. [Colloq. U.S.]

Lawless. [Obs.] Shak.

Belonging to the lower classes, or the rabble; idle and lawless; bad; vicious. [Archaic] Chaucer. But the Jews, which believed not, . . . took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, . . . and assaulted the house of Jason. Acts xvii. 5. Too lewd to work, and ready for any kind of mischief. Southey .…

m is preferred to the other. Locke. This liberty of judgment did not of necessity lead to lawlessness. J. A. Symonds.

Unrestrained by law or morality; lawless; immoral; dissolute; lewd; lascivious; as, a licentious man; a licentious life. "Licentious wickedness." Shak.

In a masterful manner; imperiously. A lawless and rebellious man who held lands masterfully and in high contempt of the royal authority. Macaulay.

Like a mob; tumultuous; lawless; as, a mobbish act. Bp. Kent.

An utterly lawless, riotous place or assemblage.