| 释义 |
wantonness|ˈwɒntənnɪs|
Forms: see wanton a.
[f. wanton a. + -ness.]
1. The quality of being wanton, in various senses.
a. Lasciviousness, unchastity.
c1340Hampole Prose Tr. 4, I rane [be] the wanntonnes of flesche and I fand noghte Ihesu. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. iii. 120 Wyues and widewes wantounesse heo techeþ. c1386Chaucer Man of Law's Prol. 31 It wol nat come agayn,..Namoore than wole Malkynes maydenhede, Whan she hath lost it in hir wantownesse. c1430Christ's Compl. 238 in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866) 175, I haue myspendid my ȝong age In synne, & wantownesse also. 1513More Rich. III Wks. 36/1 Hee [Edw. IV] was of youthe greately geuen to fleshlye wantonnesse. 1526Tindale Jude 4 They are vngodly and turne the grace of oure lorde God vnto wantonnes. 1589Nashe Anat. Absurd. A 2, The riotous wantonnesse of Pasiphae. 1634Peacham Compl. Gentl. x. (1906) 88 Concerning his [Ovid's] bookes, Amorum and de arte amandi, the wit..will beare out the wantonnesse. 1709Steele Tatler No. 49 ⁋8 That Scene of Wantonness, Messalina's Bed-chamber! 1835Thirlwall Greece xi. (1839) II. 50 To protect the state from the..pollution of wantonness and profaneness.
†b. Effeminacy, foppish affectation. Obs.
c1386Chaucer Prol. 264 Somwhat he lipsed for his wantownesse To make his englissh swete vp on his tonge.
†c. Excessive appetite. Obs.
a1400in 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.
c1400Pilgr. 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. 1500–20Dunbar Poems xxxix. 5 All weilfair, welth and wantones Ar chengit in-to wretchitnes. a1571Campion Hist. Irel. vi. (1633) 18 Linnen shirts the rich doe weare for wantonnes and bravery. 1601R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. (1603) 200 In India and Cambaia they vse it at the burial of great Lords, in bathes and in other wantonnes. 1713Steele 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.
c1480Henryson Test. Cress. 549 Sa eleuait I was in wantones, And clam vpon the fickill quheill sa hie. c1518Skelton Magnyf. 2504 With sad Cyrcumspeccyon correcte my Vantonnesse. a1665Goodwin Filled w. the Spirit (1867) 23 Others [of the devils]..may be employed to stir up and cherish a spirit of pride and wantonness. 1779J. Moore View Soc. Fr. (1789) I. xliv. 372 Nothing can be a greater check to the wantonness of power. 1796F. Burney Camilla III. 83 He has therefore turned fop from mere wantonness of time and of talents. 1815Jane Austen Emma I. v. 75 Weston may grow cross from the wantonness of comfort. 1868M. Pattison Academ. Organ. v. 148 Some check on knowledge is highly necessary to prevent it from running riot in the wantonness of its own wealth.
† plural.1712Steele 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.
1533More 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. 1611Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. v. §48 William..was through the wantonnesse of his horse cast to the ground.
†g. Caprice, whim. Obs.
1595Shakes. John iv. i. 16 Yet I remember, when I was in France, Yong Gentlemen would be as sad as night Onely for wantonnesse. a1631Donne Serm., Ps. vi. 2 (1640) 516 David..comes not to take physick upon wantonnesse; but because the disease is violent. 1736Butler Anal. ii. i. Wks. 1874 I. 158 It is mere idle wantonness, to insist upon knowing the reasons. 1835Sir 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.
1712Addison Spect. No. 315 ⁋12 His Flight..with the particular Description of the Sun, are set forth in all the Wantonness of a luxuriant Imagination. 1774J. Bryant Mythol. I. 129 Many in the wantonness of their fancy have yielded to the most idle surmises. 1830D'Israeli Chas. I, III. 28 Charles cannot be reproached for exacting monies..from any wantonness of prodigality.
i. Reckless and unprovoked ill-doing.
1775Adair Amer. Ind. 153 When an Indian sheds human blood, it does not proceed from wantonness, or the view of doing evil, but solely [etc.]. 1789–96Morse Amer. Geog. I. 356 The whole [of the stalactites] have since, by the wantonness of visitors, been broken down. 1823Lamb 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. 1828Scott F.M. Perth ii, He would be as loath, in wantonness, to kill a spider, as if he were a kinsman to King Robert. 1845Miss Mitford in L'Estrange Life (1870) III. xi. 201 We have had here four incendiary fires! I don't know for what—mere wantonness. 1870Disraeli Lothair lviii, A Zouave, in wantonness firing his weapon before he threw it away, sent a random shot which struck Theodora. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 433 A man may..commit some of these crimes..in a fit of childish wantonness. 1914Kipling ‘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.
1630Bp. Hall Occas. Medit. lxxi. (1633) 174 It is a wantonnesse to complaine of choyse; No Law bindes us to read all. 1664Dryden 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. 1768Johnson Let. to F. A. Barnard 28 May, Things..which are prized at a high rate by a wantonness rather than by use. 1795–1814Wordsw. 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.
1506–7Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. III. 369 Item, that nycht, to Wantonnes that sang to the King, xiiij s.
†b. transf.
1596Edw. 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 cocknev. |