forgetful, a.
(fəˈgɛtfʊl)
[f. forget v. + -ful.]
1. Apt, inclined, or liable to forget; having a bad memory. Also, that forgets: const. of.
| 1382 Wyclif Jas. i. 25 Not maad a forȝetful herer, but a doer of werk. c 1449 Pecock Repr. ii. v. 165 We ben ful freel and forȝeteful. 1509 Fisher Fun. Serm. C'tess Richmond Wks. (1876) 291 She wolde not be..forgetefull of ony kyndnes or seruyce done to her before. 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. iv. iii. 255 Beare with me good Boy, I am much forgetfull. 1794 Coleridge Death of Chatterton 115 Wisely forgetful. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. xiv. 97 Forgetful of the glory of the past. |
2. Heedless, neglectful. Const. of or inf.
| 1526–34 Tindale Heb. xiii. 2 Be not forgetfull to lodge straungers. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 709 Th' unwary Lover cast his Eyes behind, Forgetful of the Law. 1720 Prior Horace i. ix. 16, I..intend To serve myself, forgetful of my Friend. 1859 Tennyson Enid 53 Forgetful of his glory and his name. |
3. That causes to forget, inducing oblivion. Chiefly poet. (Cf. oblivious.)
| 1557 Tottell's Misc. (Arb.) 271 Reason runnes about, To seke forgetfull water. 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 74 If the sleepy drench Of that forgetful Lake benumme not still. 1697 Dryden æneid vi. 1017 Compell'd to drink the deep Lethean Flood, In large forgetful draughts. 1787 Generous Attachm. I. 157 The self same bed..once received an honoured parent..to its soft forgetful down. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. xxxv, The sound of that forgetful shore. |
Hence forˈgetfully adv., in a forgetful manner.
| a 1716 South Serm. (1744) VIII. xiv. 416 It is our duty..forgetfully, to accept the oppression. 1731 Boyse From C. Dryden's Horti Arlingtoniani Poems 36 Through the Maze forgetfully they stray. 1859 Cornwallis New World I. 70 One of them having forgetfully left his umbrella behind him. |