SuaviloquyToday’s word

wont

Wont, n.

Custom; habit; use; usage. They are . . . to be called out to their military motions, under sky or covert, according to the season, as was the Roman wont. Milton. From childly wont and ancient use. Cowper.

3 other Webster entries under this spelling

Wont, a.

Using or doing customarily; accustomed; habituated; used. "As he was wont to go." Chaucer. If the ox were wont to push with his horn. Ex. xxi. 29.

Wont, v. i. [imp. Wont, p. p. Wont, or Wonted; p. pr. & vb. n. Wonting.]

To be accustomed or habituated; to be used. A yearly solemn feast she wont to make. Spenser.

Wont, v. t.

To accustom; -- used reflexively.

Shades of meaning

Fernald has no entry of its own for wont; he lists it under habit.

Where he writes about it:

Wont is blind and instinctive habit like that which attaches an animal to a locality: the word is now almost wholly poetic. — from habit