Wantonly

adv. [-LY².] In a wanton manner. a. Lewdly, lasciviously; voluptuously, luxuriously; lavishly.

c. 1375.  Sc. Leg. Saints, vi. (Thomas), 466. Þe flesche þat we fed here maste vantonly in daynttis sere.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Shipman’s T., 381. And wantownely agayn with hym she pleyde.

c. 1430.  Pilgr. Lyf Manhode, II. xxxii. (1869), 87. Wantounliche thou wilt hose him, and take him noble robes.

c. 1489.  Caxton, Blanchardyn, xxii. 72. The smylynges and fayre shewes of their eyen, which wauntonly they caste full often vpon that yonge knyght.

1538.  Elyot, Dict., Delicatus, delycate, wantonlye broughte vppe.

1568.  Grafton, Chron., II. 531. The bishop saw … that vittailes were not wantonly consumed, nor vainely spent.

1662.  J. Davies, trans. Olearius’ Voy. Ambass., 89. Some of our young men … would talk wantonly with them [the women].

1712.  Steele, Spect., No. 466, ¶ 3. The flippant insipidly Gay and wantonly Forward, whom you behold among Dancers.

  b.  Frolicsomely, sportively, playfully, light-heartedly.

1426.  Lydg., De Guil. Pilgr., 11249. She held a gloue vantounly, And tournyd yt fful ffetysly Aboute hyr ffyngres vp & doun.

1549.  Compl. Scot., vi. 37. I beheld the pretty fische vantounly stertland vitht there rede vermeil fynnis.

1612.  Drayton, Poly-olb., viii. 448. She … oft in-Isles the shore, as wantonly she flowes.

1621.  Fletcher, Pilgrim, V. iv. 1. How wantonly The wind blows through the leaves, and courts, and playes with ’em!

1663.  Cowley, Country Mouse, 9. A Mouse of high degree, which lost his way, Wantonly walking forth to take the Air.

1777.  Sir W. Jones, Seven Fountains, 37. Some wantonly were tripping in a ring.

  c.  Recklessly, unadvisedly; without proper excuse or motive; without regard for right or consequences; in a way that betrays delight in wrongdoing or mischief, wilfully.

1390.  Gower, Conf., II. 35. For he the hors withoute lawe The carte let aboute drawe Wher as hem liketh wantounly.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 3496. Why wrought ye so wantonly in your wilde yre?

1566.  Stapleton, Ret. Untruths to Jewel, iii. 90. He denieth Christ wantonly.

1675.  Dryden, Aurengz., IV. (1676), 58. But do not wantonly my passion move.

1749.  Fielding, Tom Jones, II. vi. To pardon great criminals wantonly, without any reason whatever.

1781.  Gibbon, Decl. & F., xxxi. III. 229. The Goth … expressed … his lively sense of the insult so wantonly offered to his person.

1801.  Helen M. Williams, St. Mann. Fr. Republic, II. 217. The [Spartan] tribunal which condemned a boy to death for wantonly plucking out the eyes of a bird.

1883.  Law Times, 20 Oct., 407/2. Preventing a litigant without a case from wantonly harassing his opponent.

1888.  A. H. Smith, Catal. Engr. Gems Brit. Mus., 228. The [Portland] vase was wantonly broken on February 7, 1845, by a scene-painter, named William Lloyd.