heartwhole

comparative more heartwhole · superlative most heartwhole · alternative heart-whole

1. archaicUndismayed, not abashed or frightened; healthy.First known use 15th c.

   #*:Nay nay saide sire Tristram / Dynadan / neuer drede the / for I am herte hole / & of this wounde I shal soone be hole by the mercy of god […].

   1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “xxxiiij”, in Le Morte Darthur, book IX

2. Not in love; romantically unattached.First known use 17th c.

   [T]he subject of love being artfully introduced by the widow, who had been directed to sound his inclinations, he rallied the passion with great ease and severity, and made no scruple of declaring himself heart-whole.

   1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC

   1 more example

   She remained with her comrades till dusk, and participated with a certain zest in the dancing; though, being heart-whole as yet, she enjoyed treading a measure purely for its own sake; little divining when she saw "the soft torments, the bitter sweets, the pleasing pains, and the agreeable distresses" of those girls who had been wooed and won, what she herself was capable of in that kind.

   1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, volume 1, London: James R. Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., page 27

3. Wholehearted, sincere.First known use 17th c.