Bootless (was: Who's crazy?)

David Peterson scripsit:

> Prospero indicates to Miranda that she should ask about her past,
> and she says that she has before: "You have often begun to tell me what I am,
> but stopp'd and left me to a bootless inquisition, concluding 'Stay: not yet'"
>     A "bootless inquisition"?!  What the heck is that?!
"Bootless" = pointless, fruitless.  So a "bootless inquisition" is a question
session that doesn't get any answers.  It's used in a more famous line from
_Julius Caesar_: "And doth not Brutus bootless [= to no purpose] kneel
[as well as the other conspirators, who are pretending to petition Caesar]?"

"Sleeveless" means the same thing, usually in "sleeveless errand", one that
fails of its purpose.

--
John Cowan           http://www.ccil.org/~cowan              cowan@ccil.org
Please leave your values        |       Check your assumptions.  In fact,
   at the front desk.           |          check your assumptions at the door.
     --sign in Paris hotel      |            --Miles Vorkosigan