truant
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈtɹuːənt/
ipa: /ˈtɹuənt/
rhymes: -uːənt
Forms: form: truants
form: truanting
form: truanted
form: truanted
Etymology: Inherited from Middle English truaunten (“to obtain alms fraudulently; to behave like a rogue or scoundrel; to neglect a duty; to be idle or lazy”), and then partly:
* from Old French truander (modern French truander (“to cheat, to con”)), from truand (noun) (see etymology 1) + -er (suffix forming infinitives of first-conjugation verbs); and
* from Middle English truaunt (noun) (see etymology 1) + -en (suffix forming infinitives of verbs).
Senses: examples: text: The number of schoolchildren known to have truanted from this school has been unusually high.
text: VVhat made the Gods ſo often to trevvant from Heauen & mych [much] héere on earth, but beautie?
ref: 1580, Iohn Lyly [i.e., John Lyly], Euphues and His England. […], London: […] [Thomas East] for Gabriell Cawood, […], →OCLC, folio 29, recto:
text: VVhat ſimple thiefe brags of his ovvne attaine? / 'Tis double vvrong, to truant vvith your bed, / And let her read it in thy lookes at boord: […]
ref: c. 1594 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 91, column 1:
english: What mindless thief brags of his own crime? / 'Tis doubly wrong to wander from your bed [i.e., be unfaithful to one’s wife], / And let her read it in your looks at the table: […]
translation: What mindless thief brags of his own crime? / 'Tis doubly wrong to wander from your bed [i.e., be unfaithful to one’s wife], / And let her read it in your looks at the table: […]
bold_translation_offsets: 67
73
text: By this means they loſt their time, and truanted in the fundamentall grounds of ſaving knovvledge, […]
ref: 1641 June or July, [John Milton], Of Prelatical Episcopacy, and Whither It may be Deduc’d from the Apostolical Times by Vertue of Those Testimonies which are Alledg’d to that Purpose in Some Late Treatises: […], London: […] R[ichard] O[ulton] & G[regory] D[exter] for Thomas Underhill, […], →OCLC, page 14:
text: If in a dark buſineſſe vve perceive God to guide us by the lantern of his providence, it is good to follovv the light cloſe, leſt vve loſe it by our lagging behind. He [Eliezer] vvill not truant it novv in the afternoon, but vvith convenient ſpeed returns to Abraham, vvho onely vvas vvorthy of ſuch a Servant, vvho onely vvas vvorthy of ſuch a Maſter.
ref: 1642, Thomas Fuller, “The Life of Eliezer”, in The Holy State, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Roger Daniel for John Williams, […], →OCLC, book I, page 24:
text: Thou Truantest much, and art very idle, which are moſt pernicious things.
ref: 1690, J[ohn] Garretson, “Exercises Fitted to Lilly’s Concords, and Rules, together with Observations upon Them”, in English Exercises for School-boys to Translate into Latin. […], 3rd edition, London: […] Tho[mas] Cockerill, […], →OCLC, page 30:
text: Her good angel is gone a journey: Is truanting at leaſt.
ref: 1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter LI. Mr. Lovelace, to John Belford, Esq.”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume IV, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; […], →OCLC, page 305:
glosses: Also used with the impersonal pronoun it (dated): to shirk or wander from business or duty; (specifically) of a student: to be absent from school without permission; to play truant.
examples: text: I dare not be the Author / Of trevvanting the time then, neither vvill I.
ref: c. 1635–1636 (date written), Iohn Ford [i.e., John Ford], The Fancies, Chast and Noble: […], London: […] E[lizabeth] P[urslowe] for Henry Seile, […], published 1638, →OCLC, Act III, page 45:
glosses: To idle away or waste (time).
Derived terms: word: truanting