[OE. carléas, repr. OTeut. type *karalaus: see CARE sb. and -LESS.] The opposite of CAREFUL in its various senses.
† 1. Free from care, anxiety or apprehension. (Since c. 1650 arch., poetic or nonce-word.)
a. 1000. Rule Ben., 2 (Bosw.). He on ðam dome freoh and carleas biþ.
c. 1205. Lay., 12478. Nu we maȝen to ȝere careles wunien here.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 246. Þe kastel is wel kareleas aȝean his unwines.
1548. Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Matt. ix. 6. Depart in peace with a quyet and careles mynde.
1611. Bible, Judg. xviii. 7. They dwelt carelesse, after the maner of the Zidonians, quiet and secure.
[1671. Milton, P. R., IV. 299. In corporal pleasure he, and careless ease.
1705. Pope, Ep. Miss Blount, 11. Thus wisely careless, innocently gay.
1816. J. Wilson, City of Plague, I. i. 352. That book, With whose worn leaves the careless infant plays.
1857. Hughes, Tom Brown, I. ix. 224. The may-flies must surely be … the happiest, laziest, carelessest fly that dances … by English rivers.]
2. Unconcerned; not caring or troubling oneself; not solicitous, regardless; having no care of, about, or † to.
a. 1000. Cædmon’s Exod., 151 (Gr.). Wulfas sungon, carleasan deor.
c. 1205. Lay., 19658. Þenne weoren heo care-læse of Costantines cunne.
1579. Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 144. Seeing the father carelesse what they learne, he is also secure what he teacheth.
1585. Abp. Sandys, Serm. (1841), 148. A governor like to Moses … not careless to be zealous in God’s cause.
1596. Shaks., Tam. Shr., IV. ii. 79. And come to Padua carelesse of your life.
1614. Markham, Cheap Husb., I. ii. (1668), 10. Gingle the … stirrops about his ears, to make him careless of the noise.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 504. ’Tis Aristæus … Who to his careless Mother makes his Moan.
1727. De Foe, Eng. Tradesm. (1841), I. vii. 48. Careless of the event of things.
1770. Goldsm., Des. Vill., 161. Careless their merits or their faults to scan.
1800. Wordsw., Michael, 28. I was yet a Boy Careless of books.
1807. Crabbe, Par. Reg., III. 859. Careless what he said.
1847. trans. J. De Vega’s Jrnl. Tour, iii. 18. Quite resigned and careless about the loss.
1883. G. Lloyd, Ebb & Flow, II. 20122. ‘Not at all, my dear fellow,’ said Frank, in one of his most careless tones.
3. Not taking due care, not paying due attention to what one does, inattentive, negligent, thoughtless; inaccurate.
1579. Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 195. As farre be they carelesse from honour as they be from awe.
1579. Thynne, Animadv. (1865), 6. By oure carelesse … printers of Englande.
1732. Berkeley, Alciphr., V. § 25. It is natural for careless writers to run into faults they never think of.
1805. Wordsw., Prelude, XIII. (1851), 276. Souls that appear to have no depth at all To careless eyes.
1871. Morley, Voltaire (1886), 29. Writers so acutely careless as Montaigne.
4. Of things:
† a. Uncared for, untended (obs.); b. Arranged or uttered without art; artless, unstudied, négligé (arch.); c. (esp. in mod. use) Done, caused, or said heedlessly, thoughtlessly, negligently.
1590. Marlowe, Hero & L., I. A country maid, Whose careless hair … Glistered with dew.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., IV. iv. 38. Their many wounds and carelesse harmes.
1605. Shaks., Macb., I. iv. 11. To throw away the dearest thing he ow’d As ’twere a carelesse Trifle.
1660. Stanley, Hist. Philos. (1701), 32/2. Causing a careless rupture in the State.
1704. Steele, Lying Lover, I. (1747), 12. My Sword … does it hang careless?
1706. Pope, Lett., Wks. 1736, V. 52. I have seen … women … look better in a careless night-gown … than Mademoiselle Spanheim drest for a ball.
a. 1763. Shenstone, Wks. (1764), I. 128. My limbs with careless ease reclin’d.
1768. Beattie, Minstr., II. vi. One evening, as he framed the careless rhyme.
1798. S. Rogers, Ep. to Friend, 190. Careless my course, yet not without design.
Mod. Nothing could show better the contrast between careful and careless work.
5. quasi-adv.
1812. J. Wilson, Isle of Palms, II. 447. The dripping sail is careless tied Around the painted mast.
1855. Tennyson, To Maurice, 15. A careless-order’d garden.
