wantoningn.
/ˈwɒntənɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈwɑntənɪŋ/, /ˈwɔntənɪŋ/ Chiefly poetic and literary.
The action of wanton v. (in various senses); an instance of this.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > [noun] > action or behaviour
ragec1330
wantoning1596
society > leisure > entertainment > frolicking or romping > [noun]
rampinga1425
daffing1535
May game1571
horseplay1590
hoiting1594
wantonizing1598
roguery1611
romperinga1625
hoity-toity1668
frolicking1676
frolic1677
romping1694
wantoning1701
vagary1791
skylarking1809
larking1813
rollicking1823
high-jinking1891
shenaniganning1924
grab-ass1948
mollocking1959
bants2008
1596 W. Warner Albions Eng. (rev. ed.) xii. lxxv. 306 Full fortie Thousand Curtizans there, Ladies-like, do liue, That to the Pope for wantoning no small Reuenew giue.
1597 Bp. J. Hall Virgidemiarum: 1st 3 Bks. i. ii. 4 But since, I saw it painted on Fames wings, The Muses to be woxen Wantonings.
1624 T. Heywood Γυναικεῖον i. 5 Her embracings and wantonnings.
1656 F. Beale tr. G. Greco Royall Game Chesse-play sig. A5 The hidden fates of Princes you unfold, Court, Clergy, Commons, by your laws controll'd. Strange serious wantoning!
1701 W. Nicholls Treat. Consol. Parents 40 The innocent Wantonings of a beloved Child.
1750 S. Johnson Rambler No. 2. ⁋2 The pleasure of wantoning in common topicks is so tempting to a writer, that he cannot easily resign it.
a1797 H. Walpole Mem. George II (1847) II. viii. 249 He found it was no longer a season for wantoning with the resentment of his successor.
1820 J. L. Stevens Fancy's Wreath 33 Let horror and carnage, their wantonings cease.
1869 Harper's New Monthly Mag. Mar. 563/1 Fewer inscrutable sentences, fewer contortions of language, less wantoning with words.
1883 E. Gosse 17th Cent. Stud. 134 Chance melodies that seem like mere wantonings of the air upon a wind-harp.
1926 D. H. Lawrence David v. 32 Am I to wrestle with the Lord and fail because of the wantoning of my daughters among their maidens!
1941 G. Sampson Conc. Cambr. Hist. Eng. List. v. 271 The story is serious and is seriously told, without any wantoning in the pleasure of poesy.
1960 Hudson Rev. 12 507 The poet's wantonings with his concubines.
1993 D. Reid Humanism of Milton's Paradise Lost iii. 85 It [sc. God's garden] takes the form of a pouring forth, a wantoning of the divine energy in the variety of things.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2014; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
wantoningadj.
/ˈwɒntənɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈwɑntənɪŋ/, /ˈwɔntənɪŋ/ Chiefly poetic and literary.
That wantons (in various senses).
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > [adjective] > acting or behaving
wantonizing1599
wantoningc1600
c1600 Pilgrimage iv, in Three Parnassus Plays (1949) 119 Ile bringe you to sweet wantoninge yonge maides Wheare you shall all youre hungrie sences feaste.
1672–96 Maids Answer to Batchelors Ballad (single sheet) A wantoning Elf, His mind is so eager to humour his sences, that by his expences, he ruines himself.
1761 M. Cooper Poems Several Occasions 147 I saw, when you met, all your wantoning airs, Then saw thee right gallantly hand her up stairs.
1788 J. Boaden in Lyric Repository (new ed.) II. 9 Ye Pow'rs, to the circlet of bays I implore, Add a wantoning tendril of vine.
1854 C. Kingsley in North Brit. Rev. Nov. 43 Around them the wantoning dolphins Sighed as they plunged, full of love.
1875 J. W. De Forest Playing the Mischief xxxii. 112/1 All the power and witchery of uncontrolled, wantoning womanhood.
1901 T. R. Glover Life & Lett. 4th Cent. viii. 184 The story of the wantoning Dido.
1932 W. S. Maugham Narrow Corner xvii. 133 A little garden, wild and overgrown, in which grew roses and fruit trees, wantoning creepers and flowering shrubs.
2008 R. Dessaix Arabesques ix. 255 Perhaps I willfully misread those wantoning African eyes.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2014; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
<
n.1596adj.c1600