释义 |
▪ I. wayward, a. Not now in colloquial use.|ˈweɪwəd| Also 4 waiwerd, weiward, 4–5 weyward (4 -werd, 6 -warde), 4, 6 waywarde, 6–7 waiward (6 -warde), (7 waward). [Aphetic f. awayward. Cf. froward. The word has prob. often been apprehended as a derivative of way n.1, with the literal sense ‘bent on going one's own way’; this notion seems to have influenced the development of meaning.] 1. Disposed to go counter to the wishes or advice of others, or to what is reasonable; wrongheaded, intractable, self-willed; froward, perverse. Of children: Disobedient, refractory. In recent use the sense is somewhat milder, and perhaps always with some mixture of 2. If applied to conduct deserving severe moral reprobation it would now be apprehended as euphemistic.
c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 376 As waiwerd clerkis wolden in seynt Austyns time haue done owte..þis worde of þe gospelle. 1382― Matt. xvii. 16 A! thou generacioun vnbyleeful and weiward [Vulg. perversa]. c1425Eng. Conq. Irel. 142 Folk so weyward & so vnredy. c1475Lament. Mary Magd. 237 Wherfore ye lyke tyrantes wode & waywarde Now haue him thus slayne for his rewarde. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 20 Than he waxeth testy and weywarde, and for every tryfell is impacyent and angry. 1557North Gueuara's Diall Pr. Gen. Prol. A ij, Many sorowes endureth the woman in nouryshyng a waywerde chylde. 1583Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. 102 [They] shewe them selues either wilfull, waiwarde, or maliciouslye blinde. 1583Whitgift Serm. (1589) C 6 b, The third kinde is of those that are conceited and wayward, who onely obey when they list, wherein they list, and so long as they list. 1590Shakes. Com. Err. iv. iv. 4 My wife is in a wayward moode to day. 1651Featly Abel Rediv., Reinolds 486 A waward Patient maketh a froward Physitian. 1830D'Israeli Chas. I. III. 97 Charles..used the wayward genius with all a brother's tenderness. 1833Tennyson New-Year's Eve 25, I have been wild and wayward, but you'll forgive me now. 1840Dickens Old C. Shop lxix, The wayward boy soon spurned the shelter of his roof, and sought associates more congenial to his tastes. 1894Lady M. Verney Verney Mem. III. 326 Sir Ralph treated the wayward girl with a courtesy to which her mother never condescended. absol.1581J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 63 b, Here our old peevish wayward, piketh a new quarell agaynst me. 1582N. T. (Rhem.) 1 Pet. ii. 18 Not only the good and modest, but also the waiward [Vulg. dyscolis]. 1912Spectator 27 July 135/2 The two together supply the unwise and the wayward with the necessary instructions. †b. Of things personified. Also of conditions, natural agencies, etc.: Untoward. Obs.
1567Turberv. Epit., etc. 80 b, When waywarde Winter spits his gall. a1586Sidney Arcadia iii. xxix. §1 What spiteful God..hath brought me to such a waywarde case, that neither thy death can be a reuenge, nor thy ouerthrow a victorie. 1608Shakes. Per. iv. iv. 10 Pericles Is now againe thwarting thy wayward seas. 1718Prior Solomon ii. 803 My Coward Soul shall bear it's wayward Fate. 1792F. Burney Diary Apr., This wayward month opened upon me with none of its smiles. 1821J. Baillie Metr. Leg., Ghost of Fadon vii, We war with wayward fate. †c. Of judgement: Perverse, wrong, unjust. Also of the eye: Perverted. Obs.
1382Wyclif Matt. vi. 23 Ȝif thyn eiȝe be weyward [Vulg. nequam]. ― Hab. i. 4 Weywerd dom [Vulg. judicium perversum]. 1551Robinson tr. More's Utopia (1895) 40 Suche prowde, lewde, ouerthwarte, and waywarde iudgementes [L. superba, absurda ac morosa iudicia]. 1668Dryden Dram. Poesy 51 The wayward authority of an old man in his own house. †d. Of words, actions, countenance: Indicating or manifesting obstinate self-will. Obs.
c1450–1530Myrr. Our Ladye 44 An other he [the Evil One] sturreth to make som weywarde token. 1599Sandys Europæ Spec. (1632) 94 If a man should heap together all the cholerike speeches, all the way-ward actions, that ever scaped from him in his life. 1630Pathomachia i. iv. 8 From wayward words they passed on to bloody blowes. 1818Scott Rob Roy xii, I shall never forget the diabolical sneer which writhed Rashleigh's wayward features. †e. Of a disease, etc.: Not yielding readily to treatment, obstinate. Obs.
1541R. Copland Galyen's Terap. 2 F iv, By the occasyon of them the vlcere is waywarde and rebel to be healed. 2. Capriciously wilful; conforming to no fixed rule or principle of conduct; erratic.
a1533Ld. Berners Golden Bk. M. Aurel. Let. iv. (1537) 118 b, Our lyfe is so doubtefull, and fortune so waywarde, that she dothe not alway threate in strykynge, nor striketh in thretnynge. 1604Dekker Honest Wh. i. B 1, My longings are not wanton, but wayward. 1750Gray Elegy 106 Hard by yon wood..Mutt'ring his wayward fancies he would rove. 1832Wordsw. Loving & Liking 44 Instinct is neither wayward nor blind. 1881Jowett Thucyd. I. 88 The movement of events is often as wayward and incomprehensible as the course of human thought. b. transf. and fig. (of things).
1786Burns Brigs of Ayr 51 He left his bed and took his wayward rout, And down by Simpsons wheel'd the left about. 1799Wordsw. Poems Imag. x. 28 In many a secret place Where rivulets dance their wayward round. 1817Scott Harold ii. xv, Thus muttering, to the door she bent Her wayward steps. 18..Smithson Usef. Bk. Farmers 32 (Cassell) Send its rough wayward roots in all directions. 1905C.T.C. Gaz. June 254/1 The wayward hoop is a fruitful cause of those accidents for which no one except the victim gets punished. ▪ II. † ˈwayward, v. Obs. rare—1. [f. prec. adj.] In passive: To be perversely prejudiced.
1586Stanihurst Ded. in Holinshed II. 81 If anie be ouerthwartlie waiwarded, as he will sooner long for that I haue omitted, than he will be contented with that I haue chronicled. ▪ III. [wayward, -wards In the 17–18th c. the suffix -ward(s was often appended to phrases like this way, that way, our way, etc., preceded or not by to or from. (See -ward 4, -wards 2, 5.) In printed books it was common to join the suffix to the word way (either with or without hyphen), but to leave the preceding words of the phrase without hyphen, so that way-ward(s or wayward(s has a fallacious appearance of being a word.
1599Warn. Faire Women ii. 548 To creep that way-ward whilst I live ile trye. 1662Pepys Diary 7 May, He left the Queene and fleete in the Bay of Biscay, coming this way⁓ward. 1682Wheler Journ. Greece iv. 317 Turning back to our way-ward, we had the view of the highest Part of Parnassus. Ibid. vi. 474 Not very far from hence we cross'd a stream that ran from this Way-wards thither. 1686F. Spence tr. Varilla's Ho. Medicis 169 He invited their children to a match of hunting that way-wards where he was to embarque. 1770H. Walpole Let. to G. Montagu 31 Mar., I depend upon seeing you whenever you return this wayward. ] ▪ IV. wayward(e variant forms of vaward.
c1530Ld. Berners Arth. Lyt. Brit. civ. (1814) 497 The baner of Britaine sholde be in the way ward. Ibid. cv. 500 The King of Orqueney..was put to the wayward with xxx. M. hawberts. |