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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

cavort en · VERB

Pronunciation

  • /kəˈvɔɹt/ (Canada, US)
  • /kəˈvoːt/ (Australia, New-Zealand)
  • (US) audio
  • /kəˈvɔːt/ (UK)
  • audio Queensland

Etymology

Originated in the United States in 1793, as cauvaut, applying to horses, probably from the colloquial intensifying prefix ca-/ka- + vault (“jump, leap”); later generalized. Early sources connect it to cavault, a term for a certain demeanor of horses. Alternatively, a variation of curvet.

Meanings

  1. (of horses) To prance, frolic, gambol.
    • […] when the young man whirled his horse, “hazed” Jupiter in circles and belaboured him with a rawhide quirt, […] He ceased his cavortings […] 1920, Peter B. Kyne, chapter I, in The Understanding Heart:
  2. (intransitive) To move about carelessly, playfully or boisterously.
    • He whirligigged and pirouetted, dancing and cavorting round like an inebriated ape. 1911, Jack London, “Chapter XI”, in The Cruise of the Snark:
    • […]and soon a high-spirited snowball fight was being waged by dozens of happy, hyperkinetic boys cavorting in dungarees and T-shirts, in sweatsuits, in pajamas, even some in only underwear. 2008, Philip Roth, Indignation:
    • And dragon-flies sported around and cavorted, / As poets say dragon-flies ought to do; […] 1900, Guy Wetmore Carryl, “The Embarrassing Episode of Little Miss Muffet”, in Mother Goose for Grownups:
    • They descended by the tens of thousands on Britain’s southern beaches and jammed into city parks. They cavorted by the hundreds in streams. 2020 June 26, Ceylan Yeginsu, “Lockdown? What Lockdown? Heat Wave Brings Britons Out in Droves”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
    • […] while a woman in a bright red coat cavorts through a crosswalk with what appears to be an impeccably groomed Afghan hound. 2021 February 24, Nicholas Kulish, “When Influencers Make Fools of Themselves”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
  3. (informal) To engage in extravagant pursuits, especially of a sexual nature.
    • We can't even write stories about moguls like Rupert Murdoch or Barry Diller unless it involves photographs of them cavorting with young flesh. 2014, Astra Taylor, quoting James Fallows, The People's Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age, Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN:
    • As he moves back into the shadows, the stage is taken over by a troupe of Pan-like dancers, leaping and cavorting in an obscene ballet. 1965, Attila Zohar, Kings Cross Black Magic, Sydney: Horwitz Publications, page 94:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
cavorted Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
cavorted Tense=Past lexicographic
cavorts Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
cavorting Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic

Deriveds

cavortingly · cavorter

Relateds

horse around

Synonyms

caper · romp · prance · frolic

Translations (27)

sv leka (move/play boisterously) · zh 撕罗 (move/play boisterously) · hu táncol (prance) · zh 嫐 (move/play boisterously) · pl figlować (move/play boisterously) · cs dovádět (move/play boisterously) · it fare capriole (move/play boisterously) · es retozar (move/play boisterously) · nl ronddollen (move/play boisterously) · es juguetear (move/play boisterously) · ga pocléim (move/play boisterously) · de herumtanzen (move/play boisterously) · cs skotačit (prance) · de herumtollen (move/play boisterously) · nl steigeren (prance) · pt curvetear (move/play boisterously) · fi kirmailla (move/play boisterously) · eo kaprioli (move/play boisterously) · hu ágaskodik (prance) · nl dartelen (move/play boisterously) · eo pranci (prance) · eo ĉirkausalti (move/play boisterously) · cs skotačit (move/play boisterously) · pl swawolić (move/play boisterously) · ru резви́ться (move/play boisterously) · fr cabrioler (move/play boisterously) · et hullama (move/play boisterously)