English

Noun

witwanton ‎(plural witwantons)

1. (archaic) One who indulges in idle, foolish, and irreverent fancies or speculations; one who tries to be cleverly amusing but falls short.
   • 1613, Josuah Sylvester, Lachrymae Lachrymarum:

     All epicures, witwantons, atheists.

   • 1655, Thomas Fuller, “4, A.D. 1611--1619”, in The Church History of Britain from the Birth of Jesus Christ until the Year MDCXLVIII, Book 10:

     And how dangerous it is for wit-wanton men to dance with their nice distinctions, on such mystical precipices, where slips in jest may cause deadly downfalls in earnest, …

   • 1855, Thomas Carlyle, Fraser's magazine, Volume 52, Digitized edition, published 2005, page 345:

     Word-warriors and wit-wantons would waste their breath upon one whose book-hunger has won him so rich a meed, ...

   • 1986, David Grambs, Dimboxes, epopts, and other quidams:

     The witwanton is always a little off in trying to be always GETTING MENTAL.

   • 2003, Robert M. Jarvis, Amicus Humoriae: An Anthology of Legal Humor, Carolina Academic Press, ISBN 9780890894101, page 97:

     WITWANTON: One who tries to be cleverly amusing, but misses the mark.

Verb

witwanton ‎(third-person singular simple present witwantons, present participle witwantoning, simple past and past participle witwantoned)

1. (archaic) To indulge in vain, sportive, or irreverent wit; speculate idly or irreverently.
   • 1834, William Chambers, Robert Chambers, Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, Digitized edition, W. Orr, published 2007, page 32:

     … a citizen in Cheapside was executed as a traitor for saying he would make his son heir to the crown, though he only meant his own house, having a crown for the sign, more dangerous it is to wit-wanton it with the Majesty of God.

   • 1839, Rober Southey, The poetical works of Robert Southey, Digitized edition, D. Appleton, published 2008, page 88:

     Wit-wanton it with lewd barbarity, …

   • 1922, James Joyce, Ulysses, HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2008:

     And Master Lynch bade him have a care to flout and witwanton as the god self was angered for his hellprate and paganry.

   • 1922, E. R. Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros, The Project Gutenberg, Australia:

     Nor I will not suffer mine indignation so to witwanton with fair justice as persuade me to put the wite on Witchland.

References

• Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
• Chambers Dictionary, 1998