Crossword clues for wanton
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Wanton \Wan"ton\, v. t. To cause to become wanton; also, to waste in wantonness.
Wanton \Wan"ton\, n.
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A roving, frolicsome thing; a trifler; -- used rarely as a term of endearment.
I am afeard you make a wanton of me.
--Shak.Peace, my wantons; he will do More than you can aim unto.
--B. Jonson. -
One brought up without restraint; a pampered pet.
Anything, sir, That's dry and wholesome; I am no bred wanton.
--Beau. & Fl. A lewd person; a lascivious man or woman.
Wanton \Wan"ton\, a. [OE. wantoun, contr. from wantowen; pref. wan- wanting (see Wane, v. i.), hence expressing negation + towen, p. p., AS. togen, p. p. of te['o]n to draw, to educate, bring up; hence, properly, ill bred. See Tug, v. t.]
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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. Wandering from moral rectitude; perverse; dissolute. ``Men grown wanton by prosperity.''
--Roscommon.-
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.
--Shak. Reckless; heedless; as, wanton mischief.
Wanton \Wan"ton\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Wantoned; p. pr. & vb. n. Wantoning.]
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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. To sport in lewdness; to play the wanton; to play lasciviously.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
"one who is ill-behaved," mid-15c., especially "lascivious, lewd person" (1520s), from wanton (adj.).
"to revel, frolic unrestrainedly," 1580s, from wanton (adj.). Related: Wantoned; wantoning.
early 14c., wan-towen, "resistant to control; willful," from Middle English privative word-forming element wan- "wanting, lacking, deficient," from Old English wan-, which was used interchangeably with un- (1), and is cognate with German wahn- (as in wahnglaube "superstition," wahnschaffen "misshapen," wahnwitzig "mad, foolish"), Dutch wan- (as in wanbestuur "misgovernment," wanluid "discordant sound"), Swedish and Danish van-, from Proto-Germanic *wano- (see wane). Common in Old and Middle English, still present in 18c. glossaries of Scottish and Northern English; this word is its sole modern survival.\n
\nSecond element is Middle English towen, from Old English togen, past participle of teon "to train, discipline;" literally "to pull, draw," from Proto-Germanic *teuhan (cognates: Old High German ziohan "to pull," from Proto-Germanic *teuhan; see tug (v.)). The basic notion perhaps is "ill-bred, poorly brought up;" compare German ungezogen "ill-bred, rude, naughty," literally "unpulled." Especially of sexual indulgence from late 14c. Meaning "inhumane, merciless" is from 1510s. Related: Wantonly; wantonness.\n\nAs Flies to wanton Boyes are we to th' Gods, They kill vs for their sport.
[Shakespeare, "Lear," 1605]
\nWiktionary
1 (context obsolete English) undisciplined, unruly; not able to be controlled. 2 lewd, immoral; sexually open, unchaste. 3 (context obsolete English) playful, sportive; being merry or carefree (often used figuratively). 4 (context obsolete English) self-indulgent, fond of excess; luxurious. 5 capricious, reckless of morality, justice etc.; acting without regard for the law or the well-being of others; gratuitous. 6 (context obsolete English) extravagant, unrestrained; excessive (of speech or thought). n. 1 A pampered or coddled person. 2 An overly playful person; a trifler. 3 A self-indulgent person, fond of excess. 4 (context archaic English) A lewd or immoral person, especially a prostitute. v
1 (context intransitive English) To rove and ramble without restraint, rule, or limit; to revel; to play loosely; to froli
2 (context transitive English) To waste or squander, especially in pleasure (often with ''away''). 3 (context intransitive English) To act wantonly; to be lewd or lascivious.
WordNet
n. lewd or lascivious woman
v. waste time; spend one's time idly or inefficiently [syn: piddle, wanton away, piddle away, trifle]
indulge in a carefree or voluptuous way of life
spend wastefully; "wanton one's money away" [syn: wanton away, trifle away]
become extravagant; indulge (oneself) luxuriously [syn: luxuriate]
engage in amorous play
behave extremely cruelly and brutally
adj. occurring without motivation or provocation; "motiveless malignity"; "unprovoked and dastardly attack"- F.D.Roosevelt [syn: motiveless, unprovoked]
casual and unrestrained in sexual behavior; "her easy virtue"; "he was told to avoid loose (or light) women"; "wanton behavior" [syn: easy, light, loose, promiscuous, sluttish]
Wikipedia
Wanton is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
- George H. Wanton (1868–1940), Buffalo Soldier in the United States Army
- Joseph Wanton (1705–1780), Governor of Rhode Island
- Joseph Wanton, Jr. (born 1730), Loyalist in the American Revolution
Usage examples of "wanton".
The sexual acts in which Richard Hudson engaged each of these three women involved a high degree of probability that they would result in their deaths, and he committed those acts for a base, antisocial purpose and with wanton disregard for the lives of Victoria Mitten, Jane Sorensen, and Marian Browning.
So he delay, and delay, and delay, till the mere beauty and the fascination of the wanton Undead have hypnotize him.
Not in wanton orgy and obscenity, as the Middle Ages misconceived his desires, but in praise and in the deep, dark joy that issues forth from Blackness.
She is, I would ask, no wanton prattler of the charms and advantages of youth?
However, what she withheld from the infant, she bestowed with the utmost profuseness on the poor unknown mother, whom she called an impudent slut, a wanton hussy, an audacious harlot, a wicked jade, a vile strumpet, with every other appellation with which the tongue of virtue never fails to lash those who bring a disgrace on the sex.
England, to the Crier, and they shall have a Benediction from the Pope, an hundred oaths from the Cavaliers, 40 kisses from the Wanton Wenches, and be made Pursevant to the next Arch Bishop.
Any seamster or cobbler or tailor or artificer of any trade keeps us shut up in prison for the luxurious and wanton pleasures of the clergy.
They reminded her that, whether she be a staid spinster or a genteel lady or a wanton seductress, she was first and foremost a woman.
Merely a wanton whir still pulses in the breeze, a wave of weird voluptuousness, like the sensuous breath of unblest love, still soughs above the spot where impious charms had shed their raptures and over which the night now broods once more.
She probably looked less like nobility than some wanton peasant with her hair unplaited and her naked toes peeping out from beneath the hem of her nightgown.
She thought of Amri, dying in a burning house, of Jo Leiakanawa, of the wanton destruction of the Net.
Somehow the wanton, deliberate destruction of the entire set bothered her more than anything the Culvers had done.
The popular dissensions, founded on the most serious interest, or holy pretence, have scarcely equalled the obstinacy of this wanton discord, which invaded the peace of families, divided friends and brothers, and tempted the female sex, though seldom seen in the circus, to espouse the inclinations of their lovers, or to contradict the wishes of their husbands.
Its waste is a wanton expenditure, which robs the blood of its richness and exhausts the body of its animating powers.
I came to say that your killing of my poor Gemellus was wanton murder and I wish to resign all the honours I have had from your wicked hands.