recreantly

At times Kitty would come with a book in her hand (one finger shut in to keep the place), -- some latest novel, or a pirated edition of Longfellow, recreantly purchased at a Quebec bookstore; and then Mr. Arbuton must ask to see it; and he read romance or poetry to her by the hour.

A Chance Acquaintance William Dean Howells 1878

The difficulty with characters in fiction is that the reader there finds them dramatized; not only their actions, but also their emotions are dramatized; and the very same sort of persons when one meets them in real life are recreantly undramatic.

Short Stories and Essays (from Literature and Life) William Dean Howells 1878

The difficulty with characters in fiction is that the reader there finds them dramatized; not only their actions, but also their emotions are dramatized; and the very same sort of persons when one meets them in real life are recreantly undramatic.

Literature and Life (Complete) William Dean Howells 1878

So I grappled with the niceties of that delicate craft; smarting eyes, chafed hands, and dazed brain all pressed into the service, whilst Davies, taming the ropes the while, shouted into my ear the subtle mysteries of the art; that fidgeting ripple in the luff of the mainsail, and the distant rattle from the hungry jib — signs that they are starved of wind and must be given more; the heavy list and wallow of the hull, the feel of the wind on your cheek instead of your nose, the broader angle of the burgee at the masthead — signs that they have too much, and that she is sagging recreantly to leeward instead of fighting to windward.

The Riddle of the Sands Childers, Erskine, 1870-1922 1955