▪ I. errant, a. (n.)
(ˈɛrənt)
Also 4–5 erraunt(e, errawnt(e, 7 errand. See also arrant.
[a. Fr. errant, originally two distinct words, which, however, were to some extent confused in Fr. In the senses represented by branch I it is pr. pple. of OF. errer (pr. t. oirre), also written esrer, earlier edrer:—vulgar L. iterāre (= literary late L. itinerāre, -āri) to journey, travel, f. iter journey. In the senses represented by branch III it is ad. L. errant-em pr. pple. of errāre, (Fr. errer, of learned origin) to stray, wander, err. The primary notion in branch II is uncertain; it seems natural to interpret thief errant as ‘vagrant’ thief, and so to refer it to errare; but if Romanic scholars be right in referring juif errant (see 3) to iterāre, this derivation may be correct here; or perh. the two words were already confused when the phrase arose.]
I. Itinerant, travelling.
1. [after Fr. chevalier errant; cf. ‘ensemble oirrent li chevalier’ quoted in Godef.] Said of knights who travelled about in quest of adventure. See knight-errant.
| [c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 810 Knyȝt erraunt.] 1470 Malory Arthur iv. xii. 134 Here maye ye see what auentures befallen oftyme of erraunte knyghtes. 1596 Spenser F.Q. v. vi. 6 Now she deuiz'd, amongst the warlike rout..to seeke her errant Knight. 1629 Massinger Picture iii. v, I have read the tales of errant Knighthood. 1663 Butler Hud. i. i. 21 Chief of Domestick Knights and Errant, Either for Chartel or for Warrant. 1813 Scott Trierm. i. x, He journey'd like errant knight the while. |
b. transf. (often as pr. pple.): Travelling, roaming (in quest of adventure, or like a knight-errant). poet. or quasi-arch.
| ? a 1634 Chapman & Shirley Ball iv, We bee no Ladies errant. 1805 Wordsw. Prelude iii. (1850) 466 Boys and youths Forsook their homes..errant in the quest Of Patron. 1834 Sir H. Taylor Artevelde ii. v. iii. (1849) 256 Errant for geste and enterprise. 1858 Mrs. Oliphant Laird of Norlaw I. 289 Thinking of that ship, or of the sons of other mothers who were errant in her. 1858 Sat. Rev. V. 61/2 That same lady-errant who, etc. |
c. That is in the spirit of a knight-errant; also, with notion of 9, erratic, ‘quixotic’.
| 1822 B. Cornwall Ep. to Sir J. Lawrence in Misc. Poems, With pleasure which rewards mine errant pains. 1874 T. Hardy Madding Crowd I. xxviii. 306 Her temerity in such an errant undertaking. |
d. n. A knight-errant; one who travels in the manner or spirit of a knight-errant.
| a 1643 W. Cartwright Lady Errant iv. i. (1651) 50 Truth is the essence of our Order, we Who are errants cannot deceive and be. 1689 Evelyn Mem. (1857) III. 309 Isaac [Vossius] was invited thither [to Sweden] by the heroic and royal errant. 1811 Shelley in Hogg Life I. 414 If we were errants, you should have the tilting all to yourself. |
† 2. pawn errant [OF. paonnet errant (Rom. Rose)]: in chess, a travelling pawn, one that has been advanced from its original square.
| c 1369 Chaucer Dethe Blaunche 661 Fortune seyde..‘mate’ in mid pointe of the chekkere With a powne erraunt. |
† 3. Errant Jew [Fr. juif errant]: the ‘Wandering Jew’; in quot. transf.
| ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 2895 Thus es þe geante for-juste, that errawnte Iewe. |
† 4. In the designations of certain English legal functionaries: baliff-errant (see bailiff 4) [AF. baillif errant, 14 Edw. III, st. 1. c. 9]; justice-errant [AF. justice-erraunt, Britton c 1290; in Anglo-Lat. always justiciarius itinerans], a justice who travels on circuit.
| 1502 Arnolde Chron. (1811) 3 Our lord the Kynge..shall not assigne Justicis wythin the cite..other than Justicis errauntis to the tour of London, etc. 1574 tr. Littleton's Tenures 105 a, The original and the processe were sente beefore Justices errantes, where the parties came. 1641 Termes de la Ley 141 Justices that goe circuit, and Bailiffes at large..are therefore called Justices Errants and Bailiffes Errants. |
5. Said gen. of itinerant functionaries, offices, or jurisdictions.
| 1638 Penit. Conf. ix. (1657) 292 Whether every errant Priest is so furnished, that comes unto them in that name? 1874 Helps Soc. Press. iv. 60 All the funtionaries of government were more errant. 1887 Gore in Expositor June 417 We find..side by side with..the local ministry of Bishops and Deacons, a still general or errant ministry. |
II. In senses of arrant 2–6.
† 6. In phrase thief errant, errant (arrant) thief: in Chaucer, the leader of a band of robbers; subsequently, a notorious, ‘common’ thief. Obs. exc. in form arrant.
| c 1386–1822 [See arrant 2.] |
† 7. Used as an intensive with ns. of reproachful sense: Thoroughgoing, ‘unmitigated’: see arrant 3, 3 b.
| 1393–1538 [see arrant 3]. 1619 W. Whately Gods Husb. i. (1622) 76 Thou art an errand grosse hypocrite. 1719 [see arrant 3]. a 1720 Sheffield (Dk. Buckhm.) Wks. (1753) II. 131 Doing a thing in one Parliament, and ordering it to be no precedent to another, is an errant bull. 1776 [see arrant 3 b]. 1840 Smart says that errant is ‘often wrongly used for arrant’. |
† 8. Without opprobrious sense: Thorough, downright absolute, unquestionable. Obs.
| 1644 Milton Areop. (Arb.) 63 Protestants and professors, who live and dye in as errant and implicit faith, as any lay Papist of Loretto. c 1698 Locke Cond. Underst. (1781) 20 A country gentleman who..can away with no company whose discourse goes beyond what claret and dissoluteness inspire. To such a one truly an ordinary coffee-house gleaner is an errant statesman. 1703 S. Centlivre Love's Contriv. v, I shall become as errant a husband as you'd wish. 1710 Cromwell Let. 5 Nov. in Pope's Wks. V. 99 He is so errant a whig, that he strains even beyond his author, in his passion for liberty. |
† b. as pred. ? Unquestionable.
| 1653 Hales Brevis Disq. in Phenix (1708) II. 333 Unless we take that for errant which is in question..Whether the Pope be the infallible Judg of Controversies. |
III. Straying, wandering, erring.
9. Astray, wandering, roving; straying from the proper course or place; having no fixed course.
(In first quot. used as a mere pple.)
| 14.. Circumcision in Tundale's Vis. (1843) 97 To bryng the lost schepe ageyn..That was erraunt ydyl and in vayne. 1590 Spenser F.Q. iii. viii. 6 A shady glade..to her reveald By errant Sprights, but from all men conceald. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. i. iii. 9 As knots..Infect the sound Pine, and diuerts his Graine Tortiue and erant from his course of growth. a 1720 Sheffield (Dk. Buckhm.) Wks. (1753) II. 7 The Lord Rochester at the place appointed, who..brought an errant life-guard man. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xix, When he has seen the errant damsel safe home, it will be time enough to claim his reward. 1861 Temple & Trevor Tannhäuser 21 With errant foot He wander'd on to Hörsel. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. ii. vi, With an errant motion of his hands as if he could have torn himself. |
† b. Said of the planets (L. stellæ errantes = Gr. ἀστέρες πλανῆται) as opposed to the fixed stars. Obs.
| 1616 R. C. Times' Whis. 146 Astronomers that can foretell eventes..By errant planettes & by fixèd starres. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iv. xii. 210 There are just seven Planets or errant Starres in the lower orbs of heaven. 1646 G. Daniel Poems Wks. 1878 I. 17 Tis but her Errant motion; Hee, the Same Light, to the world. [1860 Emerson Cond. Life viii. Wks. (Bohn) II. 428 He heard a voice none else could hear From centred and from errant sphere.] |
† c. In the classification of diseases; = erratic.
| 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. i. i. i. ii, Diseases..Errant, Fixed, Simple, etc. |
10. Erring in opinion, conduct, etc.; deviating from the correct standard.
| 1609 G. Chapman End Learn. in Farr S.P. Jas. I (1848) 253 Skill, that doth produce But tearmes and tongues, and parroting of arte, Without that powre to rule the errant part. 1676 Evelyn Diary 6 Sept., The famous beauty and errant lady the Dutchesse of Mazarine. 1881 G. F. Watts in 19th Cent. Mar. 452 Correcting errant taste in dress. 1883 Brit. Q. Rev. July 4 To counteract an errant condition by another condition which is itself errant. |
b. Used as n. rare.
| 1839 J. Rogers Antipopopr. vi. 219 Oh lunacy, insanity, madness..Oh papal errant, how great is your error!..how ridiculous your creed! |
▪ II. ˈerrant, v. nonce-wd.
[f. prec.]
intr. To travel abroad (like a knight errant).
| 1807 Sir R. Wilson Jrnl. 14 Nov., The British soldier..has the advantage of erranting for his service. He seeks his glory abroad. |