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Webster 1913 Edition


Wanton

Wan′ton

,
Adj.
[OE.
wantoun
, contr. from
wantowen
; pref.
wan-
wanting (see
Wane
,
Verb.
I.
), hence expressing negation +
towen
, p. p., AS.
togen
, p. p. of
teón
to draw, to educate, bring up; hence, properly, ill bred. See
Tug
,
Verb.
T.
]
1.
Untrained; undisciplined; unrestrained; hence, loose; free; luxuriant; roving; sportive.
“In woods and wanton wilderness.”
Spenser.
“A wild and wanton herd.”
Shak.
A
wanton
and a merry [friar].
Chaucer.
[She] her unadorned golden tresses wore
Disheveled, but in
wanton
ringlets waved.
Milton.
How does your tongue grow
wanton
in her praise!
Addison.
2.
Wandering from moral rectitude; perverse; dissolute.
“Men grown wanton by prosperity.”
Roscommon.
3.
Specifically: Deviating from the rules of chastity; lewd; lustful; lascivious; libidinous; lecherous.
Not with
wanton
looking of folly.
Chaucer.
[Thou art] froward by nature, enemy to peace,
Lascivious,
wanton
.
Shakespeare
4.
Reckless; heedless;
as,
wanton
mischief
.

Wan′ton

,
Noun.
1.
A roving, frolicsome thing; a trifler; – used rarely as a term of endearment.
I am afeard you make a
wanton
of me.
Shakespeare
Peace, my
wantons
; he will do
More than you can aim unto.
B. Jonson.
2.
One brought up without restraint; a pampered pet.
Anything, sir,
That’s dry and wholesome; I am no bred
wanton
.
Beau. & Fl.
3.
A lewd person; a lascivious man or woman.

Wan′ton

,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Wantoned
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Wantoning
.]
1.
To rove and ramble without restraint, rule, or limit; to revel; to play loosely; to frolic.
Nature here
wantoned
as in her prime.
Milton.
How merrily we would sally into the fields, and strip under the first warmth of the sun, and
wanton
like young dace in the streams!
Lamb.
2.
To sport in lewdness; to play the wanton; to play lasciviously.

Wan′ton

,
Verb.
T.
To cause to become wanton; also, to waste in wantonness.
[Obs.]

Webster 1828 Edition


Wanton

WANTON

,
Adj.
1.
Wandering or roving in gaiety or sport; sportive; frolicsome; darting aside, or one way and the other. Wanton boys kill flies for sport.
Not a wild and wanton herd.
2.
Moving or flying loosely; playing in the wind.
She her unadorned golden tresses wore disheveld, but in wanton ringlets wavd.
3.
Wandering from moral rectitude; licentious; dissolute; indulging in sensuality without restraint; as men grown wanton by prosperity.
My plenteous joys, wanton in fullness--
4.
More appropriately, deviating from the rules of chastity; lewd; lustful; lascivious; libidinous.
Thou art froward by nature, enemy to peace, lascivious wanton.
Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton. James 5.
5.
Disposed to unchastity; indicating wantonness. Isaiah 3.
6.
Loose; unrestrained; running to excess.
How does your tongue grow wanton in her praise!
7.
Luxuriant; overgrown.
What we by day lop overgrown, one night or two with wanton growth derides, tending to wild.
8.
Extravagant; as wanton dress.
9.
Not regular; not turned or formed with regularity.
The quaint mazes in the wanton green.

WANTON

,
Noun.
1.
A lewd person; a lascivious man or woman.
2.
A trifler; an insignificant flutterer.
3.
A word of slight endearment.
Peace, my wanton--[Little used.]

WANTON

,
Verb.
T.
1.
To rove and ramble without restraint, rule or limit; to revel; to play loosely.
Nature here wantond as in her prime.
Her golden tresses wanton in the wind.
2.
To ramble in lewdness; to play lasciviously.
3.
To move briskly and irregularly.

Definition 2024


wanton

wanton

English

Adjective

wanton (comparative wantoner, superlative wantonest)

  1. (obsolete) Undisciplined, unruly; not able to be controlled.
  2. Lewd, immoral; sexually open, unchaste.
    • 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones:
      if wenches will hang out lures for fellows, it is no matter what they suffer: I detest such creatures; and it would be much better for them that their faces had been seamed with the smallpox: but I must confess I never saw any of this wanton behaviour in poor Jenny [...].
    • 1874, Thomas Hardy, Far From the Madding Crowd:
      I know I ought never to have dreamt of sending that valentine—forgive me, sir—it was a wanton thing which no woman with any self-respect should have done.
    • 1946, Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, I.21:
      People should not marry too young, because, if they do, the children will be weak and female, the wives will become wanton, and the husbands stunted in their growth.
  3. (obsolete) Playful, sportive; being merry or carefree (often used figuratively).
    • 1776, Edward Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. 1:
      The grave simplicity of the philosopher was ill calculated to engage her wanton levity, of to fix that unbounded passion for variety, which often discovered personal merit in the meanest of mankind.
  4. (obsolete) Self-indulgent, fond of excess; luxurious.
    • 1776, Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, Book I:
      the market price will rise more or less above the natural price, according as either the greatness of the deficiency, or the wealth and wanton luxury of the competitors, happen to animate more or less the eagerness of the competition.
  5. Capricious, reckless of morality, justice etc.; acting without regard for the law or the well-being of others; gratuitous.
    • 1811, Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility:
      Edward himself, now thoroughly enlightened on her character, had no scruple in believing her capable of the utmost meanness of wanton ill-nature.
    • 2009, Ben White, The Guardian, 10 Aug 2009:
      these developments in Gaza are a consequence of the state of siege that the tiny territory has been under – a society that has been fenced-in, starved, and seen its very fabric torn apart by unemployment and wanton military destruction.
  6. (obsolete) Extravagant, unrestrained; excessive (of speech or thought).
    • 1876, John Ruskin, Letters, 19 Jan 1876:
      But do not think it argues change of temper since I wrote the Frère review, or a wanton praise of one man and blame of another.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

wanton (plural wantons)

  1. A pampered or coddled person.
    • Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
      I would have thee gone — / And yet no farther than a wanton's bird, / That lets it hop a little from her hand, / Like a poor prisoner in his twisted gyves, / And with a silken thread plucks it back again []
  2. An overly playful person; a trifler.
    • Shakespeare
      I am afeard you make a wanton of me.
    • Ben Jonson
      Peace, my wantons; he will do / More than you can aim unto.
  3. A self-indulgent person, fond of excess.
  4. (archaic) A lewd or immoral person, especially a prostitute.

Translations

Verb

wanton (third-person singular simple present wantons, present participle wantoning, simple past and past participle wantoned)

  1. (intransitive) To rove and ramble without restraint, rule, or limit; to revel; to play loosely; to frolic.
    • Milton
      Nature here wantoned as in her prime.
    • Lamb
      How merrily we would sally into the fields, and strip under the first warmth of the sun, and wanton like young dace in the streams!
    • 1835, William Gilmore Simms, The Partisan, Harper, Chapter XI, page 139:
      As for her soft brown hair, it was free to wanton in the winds, save where a strip of velvet restrained it around her brows.
  2. (transitive) To waste or squander, especially in pleasure (often with away).
    The young man wantoned away his inheritance.
  3. (intransitive) To act wantonly; to be lewd or lascivious.

Translations

Related terms