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English
Noun
sleeveless errand (plural sleeveless errands)
- (idiomatic) Synonym of fool's errand
c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iv], column 2:[…] I would faine ſee them meet; that that ſame yong Troian aſſe, that loues the whore there, might ſend that Greekiſh whore-maiſterly villaine, with the Sleeue, backe to the diſſembling luxurious drabe, of a ſleeueleſſe errant.
1626 February 1 (licensing date), John Fletcher [et al.], “The Faire Maide of the Inne”, in Comedies and Tragedies , London: Humphrey Robinson, , and for Humphrey Moseley , published 1647, →OCLC, Act IV, scene i, page 45, column 2:No ſir, I intend to ſend you of a ſleeveleſſe errand; […]
1918, Carl Van Vechten, “The Authoritative Work on American Music”, in The Merry-Go-Round:[…] It was in vain that I urged that this would be but a sleeveless errand, arguing that I could not fight men of straw, that these our composers had no real standing in the concert halls, and that pushing them over would be an easy exercise for a child of ten.
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