wanton

Definition

Undisciplined, unruly; not able to be controlled.

Etymology

From Middle English wantoun, wantowen, wantoȝen, wantowe (“uneducated; unrestrained; licentious; sportive; playful”), from wan- (“not, un-, mis-”) + towen, i-towen (“educated”, literally “towed; led; drawn”), from Old English togen, ġetogen, past participle of tēon (“to train, discipline”), equivalent to wan- + towed.

Example Sentences

• "As Flies to wanton Boyes are we to th' Gods, / They kill us for their sport."
• "'Tis the cruel gripe, / That lean hard-handed poverty inflicts, / The hope of better things, the chance to win, / The wiſh to ſhine, the thirſt to be amus'd, / That at the found of Winter's hoary wing, / Unpeople all our counties, of ſuch herds, / Of flutt'ring, loit'ring, cringing, begging, looſe, / And wanton vagrants, as make London, vaſt / And boundless as it is, a crowded coop."
• "The grave simplicity of the philosopher was ill calculated to engage her wanton levity, or to fix that unbounded passion for variety, which often discovered personal merit in the meanest of mankind."

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