empty-handedness

For in their succourless empty-handedness, they, in the heathenish sharked waters, and by the beaches of unrecorded, javelin islands, battled with virgin wonders and terrors that Cook with all his marines and muskets would not willingly have dared.

1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick

On the other hand, let's say you've assumed the two of you aren't on gift giving terms yet. Then, out of the blue, your empty-handedness is met by a lavish gift.

2013, Karen J. Pine, Simonne Gnessen, Sheconomics, →ISBN

When I got inside and started stripping off my coat and boots, she greeted me, curious about my empty-handedness. “You didn't find a tree?”

2007, David Valdes Greenwood, A Little Fruitcake: A Childhood in Holidays, →ISBN

His enemies, of course, were quick to inform the king of his empty-handedness upon his return, and no doubt their interpretation that the expedition had been a total failure was believed by the king.

1977, Bailey Wallys Diffie, Foundations of the Portuguese Empire, 1415-1580, →ISBN, page 266

It is the cultivation of "empty-handedness," allowing the whole body and the mental energy to be devoted in a single pointed way, though operating through different movements, toward resisting violence without the intention of destroying the opponent.

2011, George Mattson, The Way of Karate, →ISBN