Forms: see WANTON a. [f. WANTON a. + -NESS.]
1. The quality of being wanton, in various senses.
a. Lasciviousness, unchastity.
c. 1340. Hampole, Prose Tr., 4. I rane [be] the wanntonnes of flesche and I fand noghte Ihesu.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. III. 120. Wyues and widewes wantounesse heo techeþ.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Man of Law’s Prol., 31. It wol nat come agayn,… Namoore than wole Malkynes maydenhede, Whan she hath lost it in hir wantownesse.
c. 1430. Christ’s Compl., 238, in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866), 175. I haue myspendid my ȝong age In synne, & wantownesse also.
1513. More, Rich. III., Wks. 36/1. Hee [Edw. IV.] was of youthe greately geuen to fleshlye wantonnesse.
1526. Tindale, Jude 4. They are vngodly and turne the grace of oure lorde God vnto wantonnes.
1589. Nashe, Anat. Absurd., A 2. The riotous wantonnesse of Pasiphae.
1634. Peacham, Compl. Gentl., x. (1906), 88. Concerning his [Ovid’s] bookes, Aviorum and de arte amandi, the wit … will beare out the wantonnesse.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 49, ¶ 8. That Scene of Wantonness, Messalina’s Bed-chamber!
1835. Thirlwall, Greece, xi. (1839), II. 50. To protect the state from the … pollution of wantonness and profaneness.
† b. Effeminacy, foppish affectation. Obs.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 264. Somwhat he lipsed for his wantownesse To make his english swete vp on his tonge.
† c. Excessive appetite. Obs.
a. 1400. in Hearne, Robt. of Glouc., 482, note. His flesshe wolde haue charged him with fatnesse, but that the wantonesse of his wombe with trauaile and fastyng he adaunteth.
† d. Unbridled luxury, extravagance in expenditure. Obs.
c. 1400. Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton, 1483), IV. xxxvi. 84. The honour … of this maner of peple oweth not to ben acounted … of clothynge of syluer harneys ne wantonesse of his owne persone.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, xxxix. 5. All weilfair, welth and wantones Ar chengit in-to wretchitnes.
a. 1571. Campion, Hist. Irel., vi. (1633), 18. Linnen shirts the rich doe weare for wantonnes and bravery.
1601. R. Johnson, Kingd. & Commw. (1603), 200. In India and Cambaia they vse it at the burial of great Lords, in bathes and in other wantonnes.
1713. Steele, Guardian, No. 6, ¶ 3. The servants below them seem to live in Plenty, but not in Wantonness.
e. Arrogance, insolence of triumph or prosperity. Now rare.
c. 1480. Henryson, Test. Cress., 549. Sa eleuait I was in wantones, And clam vpon the fickill quheill sa hie.
c. 1518. Skelton, Magnyf., 2504. With sad Cyrcumspeccyon correcte my Vantonnesse.
a. 1665. Goodwin, Filled w. the Spirit (1867), 23. Others [of the devils] … may be employed to stir up and cherish a spirit of pride and wantonness.
1779. J. Moore, View Soc. Fr. (1789), I. xliv. 372. Nothing can be a greater check to the wantonness of power.
1796. Mme. D’Arblay, Camilla, III. 83. He has therefore turned fop from mere wantonness of time and of talents.
1815. Jane Austen, Emma, I. v. 75. Weston may grow cross from the wantonness of comfort.
1868. M. Pattison, Academ. Org., v. 148. Some check on knowledge is highly necessary to prevent it from running riot in the wantonness of its own wealth.
† plural. 1712. Steele, Spect., No. 426, ¶ 7. The Heir … could not forbear, in the Wantonnesses of his Heart, to measure the Length and Breadth of his beloved Father.
† f. Unruliness, naughtiness (of a child); restiveness (of a horse). Obs.
1533. More, Apol., xlvii. Wks. 922/2. As doeth the tender mother which when she hath beaten her chylde for hys wantones, wypeth his yien and kisseth hym.
1611. Speed, Hist. Gt. Brit., IX. v. § 48. William … was through the wantonnesse of his horse cast to the ground.
† g. Caprice, whim. Obs.
1595. Shaks., John, IV. i. 16. Yet I remember, when I was in France, Yong Gentlemen would be as sad as night Onely for wantonnesse.
a. 1631. Donne, Serm., Ps. vi. 2. (1640), 516. David … comes not to take physick upon wantonnesse; but because the disease is violent.
1736. Butler, Anal., II. i. Wks. 1874, I. 158. It is mere idle wantonness, to insist upon knowing the reasons.
1835. Sir J. Ross, Narr. 2nd Voy., xxi. 310. Man alone eats from pure wantonness; that he may gratify his taste, not satisfy his hunger.
h. Lawless extravagance, unrestrained license.
1712. Addison, Spect., No. 315, ¶ 12. His Flight … with the particular Description of the Sun, are set forth in all the Wantonness of a luxuriant Imagination.
1774. J. Bryant, Mythol., I. 129. Many in the wantonness of their fancy have yielded to the most idle surmises.
1830. D’Israeli, Chas. I., III. 28. Charles cannot be reproached for exacting monies … from any wantonness of prodigality.
i. Reckless and unprovoked ill-doing.
1775. Adair, Amer. Ind., 153. When an Indian sheds human blood, it does not proceed from wantonness, or the view of doing evil, but solely [etc.].
1789–96. Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 356. The whole [of the stalactites] have since, by the wantonness of visitors, been broken down.
1823. Lamb, Elia, Ser. II. Sonn. Sydney. I have been hurt by the wantonness (I wish I could treat it by a gentler name) with which W. H. takes every occasion of insulting the memory of Sir Philip Sydney.
1828. Scott, F. M. Perth, ii. He would be as loath, in wantonness, to kill a spider, as if he were a kinsman to King Robert.
1845. Miss Mitford, in L’Estrange, Life (1870), III. xi. 201. We have had here four incendiary fires! I don’t know for what—mere wantonness.
1870. Disraeli, Lothair, lviii. A Zouave, in wantonness firing his weapon before he threw it away, sent a random shot which struck Theodora.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), V. 433. A man may … commit some of these crimes … in a fit of childish wantonness.
1914. Kipling, ‘For all we have,’ i. Our world has passed away In wantonness o’erthrown.
2. An instance of wantonness; a caprice, whim; a reckless and unjustifiable act. ? Obs.
1630. Bp. Hall, Occas. Medit., lxxi. (1633), 174. It is a wantonnesse to complaine of choyse; No Law bindes us to read all.
1664. Dryden, Rival Ladies, Ep. Ded. A 3 b. I wish we might at length leave to borrow Words from other Nations, which is now a Wantonness in us, not a Necessity.
1768. Johnson, Lett. to F. A. Barnard, 28 May. Things … which are prized at a high rate by a wantonness rather than by use.
1795–1814. Wordsw., Excurs., I. 626. It were a wantonness, and would demand Severe reproof, if we were men whose hearts Could hold vain dalliance with the misery Even of the dead.
† 3. As the name of an allegorical personage in a morality play. Obs.
1506–7. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., III. 369. Item, that nycht, to Wantonnes that sang to the King, xiiij s.
† b. transf.
1596. Edw. III., III. iii. 156. For whats this Edward but a belly god, A tender and lasciuious wantonnes, That thother daie was almost dead for loue? Ibid., III. v. 101. Now, Iohn of Fraunce, I hope, Thou knowest King Edward for no wantonesse, No loue sicke cockney.
