E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Sleeveless Errand.
A fruitless errand. It should be written sleaveless, as it comes from sleave, ravelled thread, or the raw-edge of silk. In Troilus and Cressida, Thersi’tës the railer calls Patroclus an “idle immaterial skein of sleive silk” (v. 1).
