Link Centre Dictionary

cavort

ca·vort

UK/kəˈvɔːt/ US/kəˈvɔɹt/ fairly common informal

verb

1.

play boisterously

  • “The children frolicked in the garden”
  • “the gamboling lambs in the meadows”
  • “The toddlers romped in the playroom”
Synonyms

Origin

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.

Phrases

  • horse around

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.