à tort et à traversadv.
/a ˌtɔː reɪ a traˈvɛː/ At random, haphazardly; without fixed principle.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > causation > chance or causelessness > [adverb] > randomly or haphazardly
into uncertain1382
uncertainlya1387
at adventure (also adventures)c1390
at or on six and sevena1398
auntersa1450
at all adventure (also adventures)1485
by hab or by nab1530
at rovers (rarely rover)c1531
hab or nab1542
hitty-missy1553
rovingly1583
haphazard1600
random1619
unsight, unseena1627
happy-be-lucky1633
cross and pile1648
temerariously1669
happy-go-lucky1672
à tort et à travers1749
randomly1765
chance-medley1822
haphazardly1832
willy-nilly1908
by guess and by God (or Godfrey)1931
1749 Ld. Chesterfield Let. 24 Oct. (1932) (modernized text) IV. 1424 Pray speak it [sc. Italian] in company, right or wrong, à tort ou à travers.
1778 F. Burney Early Jrnls. & Lett. (1994) III. 51 They were..afraid of praising à tort & à travers as their opinions are liable to be quoted.
1834 J. S. Mill in Monthly Repos. 8 391 That kind of philosophic pedantry, which, when it has got hold of a few truths which it conceives to be a test of superiority over the vulgar, applies them à tort et à travers.
1856 C. M. Yonge Daisy Chain i. v. 47 She found herself going à tort et à travers all the morning.
1921 G. B. Shaw in Times Lit. Suppl. 17 Mar. 178/2 It bristles with mad hyphens à tort et à travers.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1972; most recently modified version published online June 2018).
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adv.1749