Search the Dictionary

Without heed or care; inattentive; careless; thoughtless; unobservant. O, negligent and heedless discipline! Shak. The heedless lover does not know Whose eyes they are that wound him so. Waller. -- Heed"less*ly, adv. -- Heed"less*ness, n.

Having the eyes covered; blinded; having the mental eye darkened. Hence: Heedless; reckless; as, blindfold zeal; blindfold fury. Fate's blindfold reign the atheist loudly owns. Dryden.

Taking care; gicing good heed; watchful; cautious; provident; not indifferent heedless, or reckless; -- often follower byof, for, or the infinitive; as, careful of money; careful to do right. Thou hast been careful for us with all this care. 2. Kings iv, 13. What could a careful father more have done Dryden.…

Having no care; not taking ordinary or proper care; negligent; unconcerned; heedless; inattentive; unmindful; regardless. My brother was too careless of his charge. Shak. He grew careless of himself. Steele.

The quality or state of being careless; heedlessness; negligenece; inattention.

evil, and in the adaptation of means to ends; prudent; sagacious; judicious; not rash or heedless; cautious. It is the discreet man, not the witty, nor the learned, nor the brave, who guides the conversation, and gives measures to society. Addison. Satire 's my weapon, but I 'm too discreet To run amuck, and tilt at a…

Neglect; negligent; heedless; regardless.

Negligently; heedlessly.

Without distinct thought; unreflecting; thoughtless; heedless. "The dizzy multitude." Milton.

a succession of jets; hence: To play at ducks and drakes, with property, to throw it away heedlessly or squander it foolishly and unprofitably. -- Lame duck. See under Lame.

ecious effusion, and I shall be whiter than sow. Eikon Basilike. The light effusions of a heedless boy. Byron.

Heedless; careless; neglectful; inattentive. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers. Heb. xiii. 2.

One who forgets; a heedless person. Johnson.

Characterized by inconstancy; unstable; changeable; fickle; wild; thoughtless; heedless. "Giddy, foolish hours." Rowe. "Giddy chance." Dryden. Young heads are giddy and young hearts are warm. Cowper.

Welfare. [Obs.] All heedless of his dearest hale. Spenser.

chance; fortune; accident; casual event; fate; luck; lot. Chaucer. Whether art it was or heedless hap. Spenser. Cursed be good haps, and cursed be they that build Their hopes on haps. Sir P. Sidney. Loving goes by haps: Some Cupid kills with arrows, some with traps. Shak.

Wild; giddy; volatile; heedless. "A mad hare-brained fellow." North (Plutarch). [Written also hairbrained.]

Not turning the mind to a matter; heedless; careless; negligent; inattentive. An inadvertent step may crush the snail That crawls at evening in the public path. Cowper. -- In`ad*vert"ent*ly, adv.

Want of attention, or failure to pay attention; disregard; heedlessness; neglect. Novel lays attract our ravished ears; But old, the mind inattention hears. Pope.

Not attentive; not fixing the mind on an object; heedless; careless; negligent; regardless; as, an inattentive spectator or hearer; an inattentive habit. I. Watts.