Forms: α. 3– truant, 4 -ont, (pl. -ons), truan, 4–5 truaunt, 5 truwaunt(e, (trwaunt), truaund, 6 -ande, (-ent), 6–7 truand. β. 4–6 trewaunt, 5 -aund(e, 5–6 -ante, 6 -ande, (trewnt), 6–7 trewant, -and, 7 treuant. γ. 4–5 trowaunt, 5 -ande, (-awnt, -ent, -ean, trovwont, trownt), 5–6 trowan(e 6 -ant, trouant. δ. dial. 8–9 troant, 9 troan, trawn, trown. See also TRIVANT. [ME. a. OF. truant, F. truand adj. (12th c. in Godef.), (now only) as sb. = Prov. truan, Sp. truhan, Pg. truão; prob. from a Celtic source (Thurneysen): cf. Welsh truan wretched, a wretch, Gael. truaghan wretched, trudanach vagabond.]
† 1. One who begs without justification; a sturdy beggar; a vagabond; an idle rogue or knave. (Often a mere term of abuse.) Obs.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 60/240. Manie heolden him [St. Francis] a truant.
1340. Ayenb., 174. Þe truont … þet sseweþ hare pouerte and hare ziknesse … uor to habbe þe elmesse.
c. 1425. trans. Arderne’s Treat. Fistula, 100. Ribaldez and trowans … þat felawshypeþ þam by þe waiez to pilgrimez, þat þai may robbe þam or þair siluer.
c. 1489. Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, xxii. 490. Now shall I be a goode trewaunt, for I can well aske brede whan me nedeth.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 224 b. Obey your … rulers, although they be trewantes, that is to saye … though they … be not so good and vertuous as they sholde be.
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, III. ii. 18. Hang him truant, there’s no true drop of bloud in him to be truly toucht with loue.
1656. Blount, Glossogr., Truand (Fr.), a common beggar, a lazie rascal, a vagabond; a knave, a scowndrel.
[1895. J. C. Beckwith, trans. Hugo’s Notre Dame, II. vi. I. 147. Such law as you mete to the Truands (vagabonds and outlaws), the Truands mete to you.]
2. A lazy, idle person; esp. a boy who absents himself from school without leave; hence fig., one who wanders from an appointed place or neglects his duty or business.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., II. xii. (Rolls), 219. Truauntis in the scole of God.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. V., 61 b. I am not so loiteryng a truand as to forgette so good a lesson.
1591. Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., II. iv. 7. I haue beene a Truant in the Law. Ibid. (1596), 1 Hen. IV., V. i. 94. I haue a Truant beene to Chiualry.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 160. When the Swarms … loath their empty Hives, and idly stray,… take A timely Care to bring the Truants back.
1770. Goldsm., Des. Vill., 198. The village master … A man severe he was,… I knew him well, and every truant knew.
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., I. xxix. 398. One of our dogs, a truant from Morton’s team.
b. Phr. To play truant; also formerly † to play the truant, -s (obs.). Const. from, to.
1560. Nice Wanton, A ij. Be ye not ashamed the treauandes to play?
1598. Shaks., Merry W., V. i. 27. Since I pluckt Geese, plaide Trewant, and whipt Top, I knew not what ’twas to be beaten, till lately.
1642. Rogers, Naaman, 93. That so they may shun this sharpe Schoolemaster by playing the trewants.
1834. Medwin, Angler in Wales, I. viii. 129. I was scarcely breeched when I used to play the truant.
1887. Bowen, Virg. Æneid, V. 845. Rest those brows, let wearied eyes play truant to toil.
B. adj. 1. That is a truant, or plays truant; idle, lazy, loitering, esp. of a boy, staying from school without leave; hence, wandering, straying.
a. 1500. Hye Way to Spyttel Ho., 43, in Hazl., E. P. P., IV. 24. These trewant beggers begging fro place to place.
1561. Awdelay, Frat. Vacab. (1869), 13. A Trewand knaue that faineth himselfe sicke when he should woorke.
1615. A. Stafford, Heav. Dogge, 59. To behold an austere … Philosopher … quake at the name of death, even as a treuant boy does at the name of his Tutor.
1784. Cowper, Task, I. 114. E’er since, a truant boy, I passed my bounds.
1791. E. Darwin, Bot. Gard., I. 54. Down the steep slopes He led … The willing pathway, and the truant rill.
1793. (ed. 1) Wordsw., Descr. Sketches, 49. Through her truant pathway’s native charms.
1824. W. Irving, T. Trav., I. II. vii. 259. This freak of fancy made me more truant from my studies than ever.
1869. Tozer, Highl. Turkey, I. 318. We recovered the truant saddle.
b. Characterized or marked by truancy or idleness; befitting a truant or idler.
1602. Shaks., Ham., I. ii. 169. But what in faith make you from Wittemberge? Hor. A truant disposition, good my Lord.
1649. Milton, Eikon., xvi. 152. Wee are not … to distrust God in the removal of that Truant help to our Devotion, which by him was never appointed.
1803. Scott, Lett. to G. Ellis, 25 May, in Lockhart. My truant days spent in London having thrown me a little behind.
† 2. Trivial, trite; idle, vain. Obs. rare.
a. 1572. Knox, Hist. Ref., III. Wks. 1848, II. 141. We should nott wonder albeit that the auld trowane verse be trew, Patrem sequitur sua proles.
1682. Oldham, 8th. Sat. Boileau Imit., 49. So fam’d for many a truant jest on wiving.
C. Comb., as truant-like adj.; truant-inspector, -officer, a school attendance officer; truant-school, an industrial school to which truant or other children may be sent by order of a magistrate.
1583. Melbancke, Philotimus, M j. A trewantlike barrister.
1628. Ford, Lover’s Mel., I. i. If my experience hath not, truant-like, Mispent the time … For bettering my mind.
1852. Daily Evening Transcript (Boston), 31 Dec., 2/3. From the destitution in which many of the children are found, not having comfortable or decent clothing or shoes, it is desirable that the truant officers should stand in such a relation to some charitable society, or the charitable institutions of the city, that the cases of want may be promptly met.
1882. Standard, 31 Aug., 2/4. Truant Schools have … been doing good work in checking truancy.
1891. E. Kinglake, Australian at H., 22. Attendance officers, called truant inspectors, go and examine the books of the state schools periodically, and then visit the parents of those children who have not fulfilled the required conditions.
Hence Truantness (truanness), truancy.
1483. Cath. Angl., 394/2. Trowannes, trutannitas.
1658. J. Jones, trans. Ovid’s Ibis, 52. Boys will excuse the fault of Treuantness by the sin of lying.
