subs. (old).—A Jack-of-both-sides, a trimmer. As adj. = giddy, flighty.
1740. R. NORTH, Examen, 63. And so they kept the VOLANT a good while, and did not declare on which side they would fall. Ibid., 474. The Dutch had acted the VOLANT, and done enough on the one side or the other to have kept the fire alive.
1753. RICHARDSON, The History of Sir Charles Grandison, i. 274. Yes, my VOLANT, my self-conducted quill, begin with the sister.
1801. Poetry of the Anti-Jacobin, 129. The eddying smoke, quick flame, and VOLANT spark.
