Talk:witwanton

RFV discussion: September–December 2012

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witwanton

Noun: sole sense: One who indulges in idle, foolish, and irreverent fancies or speculations; one who tries to be cleverly amusing but falls short.

Def is from Century, but Collins has a different definition. Are either attestable? DCDuring TALK 12:47, 17 September 2012 (UTC)

The cite there appears to be adjectival use; but I have found these solid noun uses:

1. • ?, Cody Melcher - Résumé | Facebook, www.facebook.com/EccentricGent/info - Cached:

     Cody Melcher is not only a lexicographic snake oil salesman, but a witwanton and literary homosexual who is not afraid to talk about the important issues of today, such as politics, the English language, and World War I.

   • 1986, David Grambs, Dimboxes, epopts, and other quidams:

     The witwanton is always a little off in trying to be always GETTING MENTAL.

   • 1613, Josuah Sylvester, Lachrymae Lachrymarum:

     All epicures, witwantons, atheists. Leasnam (talk) 16:14, 17 September 2012 (UTC)

• --AnWulf ... Ferþu Hal! (talk) 20:23, 24 September 2012 (UTC)

How is the first one solid, not being durably archived? Frankly, it looks like spam in the context of Wiktionary.

Why not just cite witwanton as an adjective if that is unquestionable? Wanton is older and more abundant as an adjective than as a noun.

It would also be nice if the cites illustrated the meaning rather than merely the existence of the word, though we can tease out the meaning from the components, though with risk of error. More surrounding text rather than the bare snippet from Century would help. DCDuring TALK 17:38, 17 September 2012 (UTC)

Meh, it looks cited(?), so I've detagged. Retag it if you disagree. - -sche (discuss) 22:58, 17 December 2012 (UTC)