Wandering ppl. a.

[-ING².]

  1.  Of persons or animals: That moves from place to place or from country to country without readily apparent purpose; travelling to a vague (or distant) destination, or by uncertain and devious routes; roving; vagrant; having no fixed abode or station.

c. 1000.  Prudentius Glosses, in Germania, N. S. XI. 388/37. Uagantes demonas wandriʓende pucan.

1450–1530.  Myrr. our Ladye, II. 157. The darknesses of dethe whiche the envyous ennemye is wonte to brynge in to wandrynge sowlles.

1538.  Elyot, Dict., Fluctivagus, wandring in rivers or waters. Ibid., Vagus, wandrynge and abydynge in noo place.

1589.  Nashe, Anat. Absurd., B 4. The sillie Sheephearde committing his wandering sheepe to the custodie of his wappe.

1607.  Extracts Aberd. Reg. (1848), II. 293. To sie that thair be no wandering persones efter the hour of ten.

1642.  J. Taylor (Water P.), Henry Walker, A 2. At least 500. Vagrants … were all suddainely Metamorphis’d and Transform’d into wandring Booke sellers.

1715.  Pope, Iliad, II. 553. Thick as Insects play, The wandring Nation of a Summer’s Day.

1845.  A. Polson, Law Nations, in Encycl. Metrop., II. 802/1. In an age of defective police, wandering labourers and ‘valiant beggars’ were objects of terror.

1855.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xvii. IV. 95. The wandering adventurer [Baldearg O’Donnel] at first demanded nothing less than an earldom.

1878.  J. Davidson, Inverurie, vii. 244. It is of the kind made at that period for the use of wandering priests.

  b.  Of primitive peoples, or animals: Nomadic, roving, migratory. Frequently trans. scientific L. errans, vagus, etc.

c. 1400.  Prymer (1895), 10. Alle kynde of bestis & wandrynge [L. omnes bestiae et pecora], blesse ȝe to þe lord!

1544.  in Hakluyt, Voy. (1599), II. II. 19. From Mauritania or Barbary toward the South is Getulia, a rough and sauage region, whose inhabitants are wilde and wandering people.

1785.  Pennant, Arctic Zool., II. 506. Albatross. Wandering. Diomedea Exulans.

1801.  Shaw, Gen. Zool., II. 66. Wandering Mouse. Mus Vagus.… This … is frequent throughout the whole Tartarian desert, and is of a migrating nature.

1802.  Bingley, Anim. Biog. (1813), III. 362. The Wandering Spider. This Spider … does not lie in wait for its prey, like several others; it is a lively and active hunter.

1836.  [P. B. Duncan], Cat. Ashm. Mus., 75. Head of the … Wandering Albatross.—Diomedea exulans. Linn.

1844.  Kinglake, Eöthen, xii. I was but too glad to set my horse’s hoofs upon the land of the wandering tribes.

1854.  A. Adams, etc., Man. Nat. Hist., 275. Wandering-Spiders (Errantia).

1863.  W. C. Baldwin, Afr. Hunting, viii. 338. The Masaras, or wandering Bushmen.

  c.  The Wandering Jew. A legendary personage who (according to a popular belief first mentioned in the 13th c., and widely current at least until the 16th century), for having insulted Our Lord on his way to the Cross, was condemned to wander over the earth without rest until the Day of Judgement. Often referred to as the proverbial type of restless and profitless travelling from place to place. Cf. Fr. le juif errant, G. der ewige Jude. For the application to trailing plants see sense 2 e.

  In the earliest form of the legend the Wandering Jew is called Cartaphilus; in the best-known modern version his name appears as Ahasuerus, but other names also occur.

1632.  Lithgow, Trav., VIII. 345. Tradition, as their wandring Jew, the Shoomaker of Jerusalem is, of whom in Rome, they have wrot ten thousand fables.

1646.  J. Hall, Satyre, 202, Poems, I. 10. Which [might] if … stitch’t into a web, supply anew With annuary cloakes the wandring Jew.

1680.  V. Alsop, Mischief Imposit., viii. 83. Would he have us, like the wandering Jew, ramble up and down for satisfaction, and never accept it?

1837.  Dickens, Pickw., xxxix. And here am I a-walkin’ about like the wanderin’ Jew—a sporting character you have perhaps heerd on, Mary, my dear, as wos alvays doin’ a match agin time, and never vent to sleep.

  2.  Of things: Travelling (or carried) along in an uncertain, or frequently changing direction; moved, or moving, (idly) to and fro.

1590.  Spenser, F. Q., III. ix. 7.

a. 1600[?].  Hist. Tom Thumb, in Hazl., E. P. P., II. 195. His shape it being such, That men should hear him speak, but not His wandering shadow touch.

1667.  Milton, P. L., XII. 648. They hand in hand with wandring steps and slow, Through Eden took thir solitarie way.

a. 1668.  Davenant, Love & Hon., II. i. Wks. (1673), II. 234. Lost like A blossom which the wandring wind Blows from the bosom of the Spring, to mix With Summer’s dust.

1802.  Wordsw., To the Cuckoo, 4. Shall I call thee Bird, Or but a wandering Voice?

1814.  Scott, Lord of Isles, III. xiii. A scene so rude, so wild as this,… Ne’er did my wandering footsteps press, Where’er I happ’d to roam.

1850.  Tennyson, In Mem., xxiv. The very source and fount of Day Is dash’d with wandering isles of night.

1853.  Dickens, Bleak Ho., lv. The old housekeeper looks at him, and those wandering hands of hers are quite enough for Mrs. Bagnet’s confirmation. [Cf. below: Only her fluttering hands give utterance to her emotions.]

1855.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xxii. IV. 719. He had … had in his hands proofs of much that Fenwick had only gathered from wandering reports.

  b.  Of the mind, thoughts, affections, etc.: Moving vaguely (towards, or about their object); not directed by reason or fixed purpose; random; restless; wanton.

1450–1530.  Myrr. Our Ladye, I. xvi. 42. So the frayle & wretched soulle … can not sturre vp yt selfe from wandryng and vagant thoughtes.

1530.  Palsgr., 698/1. The mans mind is so wandringe that he can sattell hym upon nothynge.

1581.  Pettie, Guazzo’s Civ. Conv., I. (1586), 17 b. You, cleering altogether my minde, haue now driuen awaie the mistes which dimmed it & made it so wandering & running.

1648.  Milton, Psalm lxxxi. 50. Then did I leave them to their will And to their wandring mind.

1688.  Prior, On Exod. iii. 14, vii. Levelling at God his wand’ring Guess,… Laws to his Maker the learn’d Wretch can give.

1705.  trans. Bosman’s Guinea, Pref. I had some wandring Reflections upon the Reasons alledged in my first Letter.

1746.  Francis, trans. Horace, Art of Poetry, 33. Then learn this wandering Humour to controul.

1797.  Mrs. Radcliffe, Italian, xvii. A deep sigh from Vivaldi recalled his wandering imagination.

1818.  Scott, Rob Roy, xx. My father had often checked me for this wandering mood of mind.

  Comb.  1552.  Huloet, Wandrynge-wytted, vacillans.

  c.  Of the eyes: Roving, restless, turning this way and that.

1578.  H. Wotton, Courtlie Controv., 278. Wherevnto he answered with a wandering eye [Fr. d’on œil inconstant], Ha Mistresse, if I [etc.].

1746.  Francis, trans. Horace, Epist., II. i. 256. Pageant Shows, that charm the wandering Eye.

1899.  Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VIII. 217. The teacher may observe slow action, wandering eyes, twitchings.

  d.  Of the moon or stars (esp. tr. L. planēta, or Gr. πλανήτης): Not fixed, having a separate individual motion.

1526.  Tindale, Jude 13. They are wandrynge starres to whom is reserved the myst of darcknes for ever.

1585.  Higins, Junius’ Nomencl., 361/1. Sidera errantia,… the planets: the wandering starres.

1590.  Shaks., Mids. N., IV. i. 103. We the Globe can compasse soone, Swifter then the wandring Moone.

1632.  Milton, Penseroso, 67. To behold the wandring Moon, Riding neer her highest noon. Ibid. (1667), P. L., V. 177. And yee five other wandring Fires that move In mystic Dance.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., I. 209. Then Sailers quarter’d Heav’n, and found a Name For ev’ry fix’d and ev’ry wandring Star.

1829.  Chapters Phys. Sci., 365. Pythagoras … contended that … the comets were a kind of wandering stars.

  e.  Of plants: Trailing; sending out long tendrils, runners, or adventitious roots. Also in Wandering Jew (after 1 c), Sailor(s, Jenny, Willie, popular names of certain plants: see quots.

1590.  Spenser, F. Q., II. ix. 24. Of hewen stone the porch was fairely wrought…; Ouer the which was cast a wandring vine.

1878.  Cumbld. Gloss., Introd. 20. Lysimachia nummularia. Wandering Jenny.

1881.  Rep. & Trans. Devonsh. Assoc., XIII. 96. Wandering Sailors … Linaria Cymbalaria.

1882.  Friend, Dev. Plant-n., Wandering Sailor…. (2) Lysimachia Nummularia.

1882.  Garden, 28 Jan., 53/1. The creeping Saxifrage, or our old friend the ‘Wandering Jew.’

1886.  Britten & Holland, Plant-n., Wandering Jew, Linaria Cymbalaria, Mill. Suss.

1889.  Hardwicke’s Science-Gossip, XXV. 47. The creeping plant known locally as ‘Wandering Jew’ … is found in the North-West Provinces, particularly, I believe, in Manitoba.

1913.  C. Pettman, Africanderisms, 544. Wandering Jew, or Wandering Willie.—The Eastern Province name of a creeping plant—a sort of periwinkle.

  f.  Wandering fire or light: Will-o’-the-wisp. (Now often fig. after Tennyson’s use.)

1667.  Milton, P. L., IX. 634. A wandring Fire Compact of unctuous vapor, which the Night Condenses, [etc.].

1789–94.  Blake, Songs Innoc., Little Boy Found, i. The little boy lost in the lonely fen, Led by the wand’ring light.

1869.  Tennyson, Holy Grail, 319. How often, O my knights,… This chance of noble deeds will come and go Unchallenged, while ye follow wandering fires Lost in the quagmire!

  g.  Phys. and Path. Of diseases, pains, etc.: Moving from one part of the body to another (without clearly ascertained cause). Also (in recent use), Wandering cells: amœboid cells.

1585.  Higins, Junius’ Nomencl., 422/1. Morbus palabundus,… a wandering disease, or a sickenesse spread here and there.

1693.  trans. Blancard’s Phys. Dict. (ed. 2), Arthritis vaga, or Planetica, a Wandring Gout, is a Disease in the Joynts that creates pain, sometimes in one Limb, sometimes in another.

1706.  Baynard, Cold Baths, II. 320. Aches and wandering Pains.

1725.  N. Robinson, Th. Physick, 149. As the Scene of all acute continual Fevers is acted in the Blood, so those erratic, wandering Fevers … are deriv’d from the same Original.

1896.  Allbutt’s Syst. Med., I. 92. Here in the immediate neighbourhood of the wandering cells, the short, curved bacillary forms could be seen to have undergone the transformation. Ibid. (1897), IV. 442. Uric acid in excess and oxalic acid in the urine are often attended by … wandering … pains in the back, thigh, calf of leg, and sole of foot. Ibid. (1899), VII. 81. Fürster also held that wandering leucocytes might become transformed into glia cells.

1899.  Syd. Soc. Lex., Wandering abscess, an abscess that tracks along so as to point at a distance from its original seat. Wandering cells, a synonym for Amœboid cells.

  h.  Of roads, rivers, etc.: Lying in an irregularly bending line, winding, meandering; also fig. Also transf. (Phys.) as the distinctive epithet of a particular pair of nerves (after mod.L. par vagum, nervi vagi).

1667.  Milton, P. L., II. 561. Others apart sat on a Hill retir’d, In thoughts more elevate,… And found no end, in wandring mazes lost.

1718.  J. Chamberlayne, Relig. Philos. (1730), I. ix. § 8. The Parvagum, or Wandering-Nerve.

1764.  Goldsm., Trav., 2. Or by the lazy Scheld or wandering Po.

1872.  Howells, Wedd. Journ. (1892), 257. The wandering corridors.

1886.  Stevenson, Kidnapped, xv. A wandering, country by-track.

1899.  Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VI. 812. The term ‘accessory’ was applied by this anatomist [Willis] to the special nerve which is accessory to the vagi or ‘wandering pair.’

  † i.  Wandering name: a term that may be applied indifferently to various objects. Obs.

a. 1555.  Ridley, Treat. agst. Transubst. (1556), 52. If in the wordes This is my bodye, the woorde (this) be as Dunse calleth it a wanderynge name, to appointe and shewe furthe anye one thinge whereof the name or nature it doeth not tell: so muste it bee lykewyse [etc.].

1659.  Somner, Dict., Wudumerce, Ambrosia, Nectar, a wandring name given unto many severall herbes.

  j.  Having no fixed arrangement, scattered irregularly.

1785.  Martyn, Lett. Bot., xiii. (1794), 132. The flowers are irregularly disposed, or wandering, as Linnæus calls them.

  3.  † a. Of persons, etc.: Deviating from the proper or determined course; fig. erring, disloyal. Obs.

1606.  Bp. W. Barlow, Serm., 21 Sept. B ij. To heale the infected, to splint the spreined, to reduce the wandering.

1628.  Feltham, Resolves, II. xxix. 90. Wee dare not doe those things that are lawfull, lest the wandring World mis-construe them.

1634.  Milton, Comus, 39. The nodding horror of whose shady brows Threats the forlorn and wandring Passinger. Ibid. (1667), P. L., II. 404. Who shall tempt with wandring feet The dark unbottom’d infinite Abyss.

1697.  Dryden, Æneis, XII. 219. Long hast thou known, nor need I to record The wanton sallies of my wand’ring Lord.

  b.  Of inanimate things: Straying from the right path.

c. 1600.  Shaks., Sonn., cxvi. O no, it is an euer fixed marke That lookes on tempests and is neuer shaken; It is the star to euery wandring barke.

1697.  Dryden, Æneis, IX. 1008. Imperial Juno turn’d the Course before; And fix’d the wand’ring Weapon in the door.

1812.  J. Wilson, Isle of Palms, III. 8. Some wandering Ship who hath lost her way.

1899.  J. Milne, Rom. Pro-Consul, x. (1911), 150. A wandering bullet plunged through the roof of the wooden cottage.

  † c.  Of places: Out-of-the-way, inaccessible, remote. Obs. rare.

1600.  Surflet, Countrie Farme, I. xvii. 110. Swans haunt and loue to resort to some particular places onely, as in watrie, wandring and solitarie places [orig. lieux aquatiques, esgarez & solitaires].

  d.  Path. Wandering spleen, kidney, liver: see quots.

1897.  Allbutt’s Syst. Med., III. 584. The so-called ‘wandering spleen’ in which the viscus is found in the lower abdomen. Ibid., IV. 518. A case of wandering spleen.

1899.  Syd. Soc. Lex., Wandering, moving from place to place. Wandering kidney, a synonym for floating kidney. Wandering liver.

  e.  Mining. (See quot.) Cf. STRAY a.

1886.  J. Barrowman, Sc. Mining Terms, 70. Wandering coal, a coal seam that exists only over a small area; an irregular seam of coal.

  4.  Characterized by wandering.

1582.  Stanyhurst, Æneis, III. (Arb.), 88. To soyl of Cyclops with wandring iournye we roamed.

1603.  Daniel, Def. Ryme, H 6 b. There is no right in these things that are continually in a wandring motion, carried with the violence of our vncertaine likings.

1697.  Dryden, Æneis, III. 943. Thus to the listning Queen, the Royal Guest His wand’ring Course, and all his Toils express’d.

1719.  De Foe, Crusoe, I. (Globe), 112. This little wandering Journey, without settled Place of Abode, had been so unpleasant to me, that my own House … was a perfect Settlement to me.

1781.  Gibbon, Decl. & F., xxxi. (1787), III. 227. He experienced the adventures of an obscure and wandering life.

1814.  Scott, Lord of Isles, III. xxxi. A landless prince, whose wandering life Is but one scene of blood and strife.

1872.  Howells, Wedd. Journ. (1892), 315. The river … whose wandering loveliness the road follows.

1885.  ‘Mrs. Alexander,’ At Bay, iii. Paris is not a bad place to anchor in after a wandering life.

  Hence Wanderingly adv.; Wanderingness.

1552.  Huloet, Wandrynglye, palatim, passim.

1565.  Golding, Ovid’s Met., To Rdr. A j b. And Pilgrims such as wandringly theyr tyme in trauell waste.

1608.  Shaks., Per., III. iii. 7. Your shakes of fortune, though they hant [1609 haunt] you mortally Yet glaunce full wondringly on vs.

1653.  Jer. Taylor, Serm. for Year, I. iii. 32. Were thy prayers made in feare and holinesse, with passion and desire? Were they not made unwillingly, weakly, and wandringly.

1687.  Miége, Gt. Fr. Dict., II. Wanderingness, distraction, egarement, d’Esprit.

1825.  Blackw. Mag., XVIII. 437. His eyes Gleam’d wanderingly with brine upbidden.

1867.  Tennyson, Holy Grail, 148. For when was Lancelot wanderingly lewd?