Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Wanton

Wanton , adjective

[Old English wantoun, contr. from wantowen; pref. wan- wanting (see Wane, v. i.), hence expressing negation + towen, p. p., Anglo-Saxon togen, past participle of teón to draw, to educate, bring up; hence, properly, ill bred. See Tug, transitive verb]

1.
Untrained; undisciplined; unrestrained; hence, loose; free; luxuriant; roving; sportive.
In woods and wanton wilderness. — Spenser
A wild and wanton herd. — Shakespeare
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. — Shakespeare
4.
Reckless; heedless; as, wanton mischief.

Wanton , noun

1.
A roving, frolicsome thing; a trifler; -- used rarely as a term of endearment.
I am afeard you make a wanton of me. — Shakespeare
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.

Wanton , intransitive verb

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.

Wanton , transitive verb

To cause to become wanton; also, to waste in wantonness. [Obsolete]