From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Wanton \Wan"ton\, verb (used with an object) To cause to become wanton; also, to waste in wantonness. [Obs.]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
1. A roving, frolicsome thing; a trifler; -- used rarely as a term of endearment.
I am afeard you make a wanton of me. --Shak.
Peace, my wantons; he will do More than you can aim unto. --B. Jonson.
2. One brought up without restraint; a pampered pet.
Anything, sir, That's dry and wholesome; I am no bred wanton. --Beau. & Fl.
3. A lewd person; a lascivious man or woman.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Wanton \Wan"ton\, adjective [OE. wantoun, contr. from wantowen; pref. wan- wanting (see {Wane}, verb (used without an object)), hence expressing negation + towen, p. p., AS. togen, p. p. of te['o]n to draw, to educate, bring up; hence, properly, ill bred. See {Tug}, v. t.]
1. Untrained; undisciplined; unrestrained; hence, loose; free; luxuriant; roving; sportive. ''In woods and wanton wilderness.'' --Spenser. ''A wild and wanton herd.'' --Shak.
A wanton and a merry [friar]. --Chaucer.
[She] her unadorned golden tresses wore Disheveled, but in wanton ringlets waved. --Milton.
How does your tongue grow wanton in her praise! --Addison.
2. Wandering from moral rectitude; perverse; dissolute. ''Men grown wanton by prosperity.'' --Roscommon.
3. Specifically: Deviating from the rules of chastity; lewd; lustful; lascivious; libidinous; lecherous.
Not with wanton looking of folly. --Chaucer.
[Thou art] froward by nature, enemy to peace, Lascivious, wanton. --Shak.
4. Reckless; heedless; as, wanton mischief.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Wanton \Wan"ton\, verb (used without an object) [imp. & p. p. {Wantoned}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Wantoning}.]
1. To rove and ramble without restraint, rule, or limit; to revel; to play loosely; to frolic.
Nature here wantoned as in her prime. --Milton.
How merrily we would sally into the fields, and strip under the first warmth of the sun, and wanton like young dace in the streams! --Lamb.
2. To sport in lewdness; to play the wanton; to play lasciviously.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
adjective
1: occurring without motivation or provocation; "motiveless malignity"; "unprovoked and dastardly attack"- F.D.Roosevelt [syn: {motiveless}, {unprovoked}]
2: casual and unrestrained in sexual behavior; "her easy virtue"; "he was told to avoid loose (or light) women"; "wanton behavior" [syn: {easy}, {light}, {loose}, {promiscuous}, {sluttish}]
noun
1: lewd or lascivious woman
verb
1: waste time; spend one's time idly or inefficiently [syn: {piddle}, {wanton away}, {piddle away}, {trifle}]
2: indulge in a carefree or voluptuous way of life
3: spend wastefully; "wanton one's money away" [syn: {wanton away}, {trifle away}]
4: become extravagant; indulge (oneself) luxuriously [syn: {luxuriate}]
6: behave extremely cruelly and brutally
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
312 Moby Thesaurus words for "wanton": Adamic, Casanova, Don Juan, Jezebel, Lothario, Paphian, abandoned, accident-prone, adrift, afloat, alternating, amorphous, arbitrary, backsliding, bad woman, baggage, bat, baton, be promiscuous, bill and coo, billy club, bitch, bludgeon, breakneck, broad, capricious, careless, carnal, carouse, celebrate, chambering, changeable, changeful, chase women, chippy, clitoromaniac, club, cocotte, commit adultery, contrary, coo, copulate, cranky, crotchety, cut loose, cyprian, dally, debauch, debauchee, desperate, desultory, deviable, devil-may-care, dissipate, dizzy, drab, easy, easy lay, easy woman, eccentric, erratic, erring, fallen, fanciful, fantasied, fantastic, fast and loose, fickle, fitful, flaky, fleshly, flickering, flighty, flirt, flitting, floozy, fluctuating, fool, fornicate, frail, frail sister, freakish, furious, gallant, gay deceiver, gay dog, giddy, go-go, gratuitous, grisette, grovel, harebrained, harridan, harum-scarum, hasty, headlong, hell around, hotheaded, humorsome, hurried, hussy, hysteromaniac, immoderate, impetuous, impulsive, impure, inconsistent, inconstant, incontinent, indecisive, indulgent, infirm, intemperate, irregular, irrepressible, irresolute, irresponsible, jade, jezebel, jollify, jolly, kinky, lady-killer, lapsed, lark, lax, lead, let go, let loose, let off steam, libertine, licentious, light, live hard, lollygag, loose, loose woman, loose-moraled, lover-boy, mace, mad, maggoty, make love, make merry, make out, make whoopee, malevolent, malicious, mazy, mercurial, moody, motiveless, neck, nonrestrictive, notional, nymphet, nympho, nymphomaniac, of easy virtue, of loose morals, out of control, out of hand, overeager, overenthusiastic, overzealous, peccable, permissive, perverse, pet, petulant, philander, philanderer, pickup, pig, plunge into dissipation, postlapsarian, precipitant, precipitate, precipitous, prodigal, profligate, promiscuous, prostitute, quean, quirky, raise hell, rake, rakehell, rambling, rampant, recidivist, recidivistic, reckless, reinless, restless, revel, riotous, rip, roister, roue, rounder, roving, run riot, scatterbrained, see life, shapeless, shifting, shifty, shillelagh, shuffling, skirt chaser, skylark, slack, slap-bang, slapdash, slattern, sleep around, slut, smooch, spasmodic, spineless, spiteful, spoon, spree, step out, strumpet, sweet-talk, swing, swinger, tart, temperamental, toy, tramp, trifle, trollop, trull, truncheon, unaccountable, unangelic, unasked, unbridled, uncalled-for, uncertain, unchaste, unchecked, unclean, uncoerced, uncompelled, unconstrained, uncontrolled, uncurbed, undependable, undisciplined, unfixed, unforced, ungodly, ungood, ungoverned, uninhibited, unmastered, unmeasured, unmuzzled, unpredictable, unreasonable, unreined, unreliable, unrepressed, unreserved, unrestrained, unrestrictive, unrighteous, unruly, unsaintly, unsettled, unstable, unstable as water, unstaid, unsteadfast, unsteady, unsubdued, unsuppressed, unvirtuous, uteromaniac, vacillating, vagarious, vagrant, variable, vicissitudinary, vicissitudinous, virtueless, volatile, walking phallus, wallow, wandering, war club, wavering, wavery, wavy, wayward, weak, wench, whimsical, whisper sweet nothings, whoop it up, whore, whorish, wild, wishy-washy, wolf, woman chaser, womanize, womanizer
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