arrant, a.
(ˈærənt)
Also 6 arraunt, 6–7 -and(e.
[A variant of errant, ‘wandering, vagrant, vagabond,’ which from its frequent use in such expressions as arrant thief, became an intensive, ‘thorough, notorious, downright,’ especially, from its original associations, with opprobrious names. For the vowel-change cf. arrand= errand, Harry= Herry, Henry, far= earlier fer, etc.]
† 1. Wandering, itinerant, vagrant; esp. in knight arrant, bailiff arrant; in which the etymological errant is now alone used.
| [c 1400 Circumcis. (Turnb. 1843) 97 To bryng the lost schepe ageyn..That was errawnt, ydyl, and in vayne.] 1550 Crowley Epigr. (1872) 12 Title, Of Baylife Arrantes. 1557 K. Arthur (Copland) vii. x, With that knyght wyll I juste, for I see that he is a knyght arraunt. 1602 Warner Alb. Eng. ix. xlvi. 217 Arrant Preachers, humming out a common-place or two. 1647 Howard Crown Rev. 18 Bayliffe arrant. Fee.—4l. 11s. 3d. [1691 Blount Law Dict., Bailiffs Errant are those whom the Sheriff appoints to go up and down the County to serve Writs, etc.] |
2. In thief errant, arrant thief [= robber]: orig. an outlawed robber roving about the country, a freebooter, bandit, highwayman; hence, a public, notorious, professed robber, a ‘common thief,’ an undisguised, manifest, out-and-out thief.
| c 1386 Chaucer Manciple's T. 120 An outlawe or a thef erraunt. [See the whole passage.] 1553 Bale Vocacyon in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) I. 362 The most errande thefe and mercilesse murtherer. 1563 Grafton Chron. Hen. IV, an. 1 (R.) There is not so ranke a traytor, nor so arrant a thefe. 1637 J. Pocklington Sund. no Sabb. 13 The arrantest Pharisee theefe in Jerusalem. a 1744 Swift Wks. 1841 II. 79 Every servant an arrant thief as to victuals and drink. 1822 W. Irving Braceb. Hall xxvii. 247 Who, like errant thieves, could not hold up their heads in an honest house. |
3. Hence: Notorious, manifest, downright, thorough-paced, unmitigated. Extended from thief to traitor, knave, rebel, coward, usurer; after 1575 widely used as an opprobrious intensive, with fool, dunce, ass, idiot, hypocrite, Pharisee, Papist, Puritan, infidel, atheist, blasphemer, and so on through the whole vocabulary of abuse.
| 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. vii. 307 An erraunt vsurer. 1494 Fabyan v. lxxx. 58 Beyng a errant Traytoure. 1538 Tunstall in Strype Eccl. Mem. I. i. xliv. 338 Reginald Pole, comen of a noble blood, and thereby the more errant traitor. 1553 Procl. ibid. III. App. vi. 10 The most arrande traytour Syr John Dudley. c 1588 Greene Fr. Bacon v. 26 Why, thou arrant dunce, shall I never make thee a good scholar? 1596 Drayton Legends i. 112 Which she to Sots and arrant Ideots threw. 1602 Shakes. Ham. i. v. 124 Hee's an arrant knaue. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. ii. iii. ii. (1651) 316 A nobleman therefore in some likelihood..is..a proud fool, an arrant asse. 1660 H. More Myst. Godl. v. xiii. 168 Either an arrant Infidel or horrid Blasphemer. 1679 Mansell Narr. Popish Plot Addr., Who may prove good tools, though errant Fools. 1719 De Foe Crusoe 482 They are errant cowards. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones xiv. iii. (1840) 205 The arrantest villain that ever walked upon two legs. 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. II. 34 As arrant a crew of scapegraces as ever were collected together. 1837 Howitt Rur. Life ii. v. (1862) 141 The inhabitants of solitary houses are often most arrant cowards. |
b. transf. of things, i.e. opprobrious deeds and qualities, theft, presumption, lie, device, etc.
| 1639 Fuller Holy War v. xxx (1840) 301 It were arrant presumption for flesh to prescribe God his way. 1692 Bentley Boyle Lect. i. 9 They cover the most arrant Atheism under the mask and shadow of a Deity. 1753 Richardson Grandison (1781) IV. xxxiv. 241, I am afraid I have written arrant nonsense. 1776 Pennant Tour Scot. ii. 327 This hill, till about the year 995, was an errant desert..and uninhabitable. 1858 Buckle Civilis. (1869) III. v. 480 Little better than arrant trifling. |
4. Without opprobrious force: Thorough, downright, genuine, complete, ‘regular.’
| 1570 Levins Manip. 25 Arrant, grandis, magnus. 1575 Turberv. Venerie 193 Good and arrant Terriers..to make the foxe or Badgerd start the soner. 1664 Evelyn Sylva 95 He that shall behold its grain..will never scruple to pronounce it arrant wood. 1704 Rowe Ulysses Epil. 15 They Like arrant Huswives, rise by Break of Day. 1820 W. Irving Sketch Bk. II. 59 A tight brisk little man, with the air of an arrant old bachelor. |
† 5. With the opprobrious force transferred to the adj.: Thoroughly bad, good for nothing, rascally.
| 1581 B. Rich Farewell (1846) 25 Her beautie had so entangled her arrant hoste. 1592 G. Harvey Pierce's Superer. 6 So forward to accuse, debase, revile..as the arrantest fellow in a Country? 1676 Wycherley Plain-Dealer iii. i, Mine's as arrant a Widow-Mother, to her poor Child, as any's in England. 1708 Pope Lett. Wks. 1736 V. 61 You are not so arrant a critic of the modern Poets as..to damn them without a hearing. 1761 Smollett Gil Blas vii. iii, It was easy to see through all his piety that he was an arrant author at the bottom. |
b. as pred.
| 1641 Milton Animadv. Def. Smectymn. ii, The authority of some synodal canons which are now arrant to us. |
6. as n. A person of no reputation, a good-for-nothing.
| 1605 Breton Be not angry 8 Her good-man who should be sent of errands, while she were with her arrants. |