recklessly, adv.
(ˈrɛklɪslɪ)
Forms: see reckless a.
[f. reckless a. + -ly2.]
1. In a reckless manner: † a. Carelessly, negligently. Obs.
| α c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. C. lvii. 439 Nis us nawht recceleaslice to ᵹehiranne ðætte he nemde ða undiorestan wyrta [etc.]. c 1000 Ags. Hom. (ed. Assmann) xiv. 121 Se þe hit þonne receleæslice..wyrceð, he bið awyrᵹed into helle. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xi. 125 He may..as a reneyed caityf recchelesly gon aboute. 1413 Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton 1483) iv. xxvii. 73 Thou haste thy body rechelesly gouerned and blamest hyt for thy gylt. 1496 Dives & Paup. (W. de W.) ii. ii. 111/1 People kepe not theyr vowes..but breke them retchelesly or wylfully. 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Luke viii, Because he so rechelessely kept the euangelicall treasure. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. x. 271 When of ages past we look in books to read, We retchlesly discharge our memory of those. |
| β a 1300 Cursor M. 28279 Quare i was scheperd had sauls to kepe, to reckelesly i geit my schepe. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 3907 Penance..done Parchaunce over reklesly and over sone. c 1470 Henry Wallace iv. 227 The lauboreris latt rakleslye went in. |
b. Without regard to consequences, rashly.
| c 1400 Rule St. Benet 58/367 And þai wil not þair mys amend, Bott reklisly hir rede refuse. 1513 Douglas æneis ix. vi. 48 Thre of his seruandis, that fast by hym lay, Full raklesly he kyllyt. 1571 Golding Calvin on Ps. lxxiii. 19 They rechelessly despyse all daungers as if they were out of all gonneshot. 1629 Earle Microcosm., Drunkard (Arb.) 82 Nothing..makes him more retchlesly carelesse, what becomes of all. 1843 A. Bethune Sc. Fireside Stor. 60 Mr. M‘Quiddit drank recklessly and deep. 1871 H. Ainsworth Tower Hill ii. iv, He had turned a deaf ear to their supplications, and hurried them recklessly to the scaffold. |
† 2. Sc. Through carelessness; accidentally.
Obs.| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxii. (Laurence) 609 Rek[l]asly he let It fall, and brak quhyt in pecis smal. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. ii. Prol. 11 Thre thousand ȝhere..Neyr forȝet were reklesly [by historians]. c 1470 Henry Wallace v. 158 Thus raklesly this gud knycht [haiff] thai tynt. 1552 Lyndesay Monarche 1157 [To tell] quhow blynd Lameth raikleslye Did slay Cayn vnhappelye. a 1578 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 148 How he was slaine..be ane of his awin gunis that brak rackleslie in hir schutting. 1609 Skene Reg. Maj., Crimes 159 Gif ane stranger, or traveller burnes ane other mans house rakleslie, he sall be arreisted. a 1670 Spalding Troub. Chas. I (1829) 92 There was a sudden fray among them occasioned by a shot racklesly let go in the same house. |