Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Vagary
Va-ga′ry
(vȧ-gā′ry̆ or văg′ȧ-rē̍)
, Noun.
pl.
Vagaries
(vȧ-gā′rĭz or văg′ȧ-rē̍z)
. [L.
vagari
to stroll about. See Vague
.] 1.
A wandering or strolling.
[Obs.]
2.
Hence, a wandering of the thoughts; a wild or fanciful freak; a whim; a whimsical purpose.
“The vagaries of a child.” Spectator.
They changed their minds,
Flew off, and into strange
Flew off, and into strange
vagaries
fell. Milton.
Webster 1828 Edition
Vagary
VAGA'RY
,Noun.
They chang'd their minds, flew off, and into strange vagaries fell.
Definition 2024
vagary
vagary
English
Noun
vagary (plural vagaries)
- An erratic, unpredictable occurrence or action.
- 1871, Charles Kingsley, At Last: A Christmas In The West Indies, ch. 8:
- It now turns out that the Pitch Lake, like most other things, owes its appearance on the surface to no convulsion or vagary at all, but to a most slow, orderly, and respectable process of nature, by which buried vegetable matter, which would have become peat, and finally brown coal, in a temperate climate, becomes, under the hot tropic soil, asphalt and oil.
- 1871, Charles Kingsley, At Last: A Christmas In The West Indies, ch. 8:
- An impulsive or illogical desire; a caprice or whim.
- 1905, Jack London, War of the Classes, Preface:
- And then came the day when my socialism grew respectable,—still a vagary of youth, it was held, but romantically respectable.
- 1905, Jack London, War of the Classes, Preface:
Derived terms
Translations
An erratic, unpredictable occurrence or action
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An impulsive or illogical desire; a caprice