cavort

WOTD - 7 September 2008    

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /kəˈvɔːt/
• (US) IPA: /kəˈvɔɹt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː(r)t

Verb

cavort (third-person singular simple present cavorts, present participle cavorting, simple past and past participle cavorted) (intransitive)

1. (originally) To prance, said of mounts
2. To move about carelessly, playfully or boisterously.
   • 1900, Guy Wetmore Carryl, Mother Goose for Grownups, “The Embarrassing Episode of Little Miss Muffet”,

     And dragon-flies sported around and cavorted,//As poets say dragon-flies ought to do;

   • 1911, Jack London, The Cruise of the Snark, Chapter XI,

     He whirligigged and pirouetted, dancing and cavorting round like an inebriated ape.

Synonyms

• (move about boisterously): romp, frolic, prance, caper

Translations

prance

Dutch: steigeren (nl)

move/play boisterously

Chinese: 嫐 (nǎo), 撕罗 (sī luo) Dutch: dartelen (nl), ronddollen (nl) Esperanto: please add this translation if you can Estonian: hullama (et) Finnish: kirmailla (fi) French: cabrioler (fr) German: herumtollen, herumtanzen

Italian: far capriole (it) Polish: figlować (pl), swawolić (pl) Portuguese: curvetear (pt) Russian: резвиться (ru) (rezvít’s’a) Spanish: retozar (es), juguetear (es) Swedish: leka (sv)

See also

• horse around

References

• “cavort” in the Online Etymology Dictionary, Douglas Harper, 2001
• “The Way We Live Now: 7-14-02: On Language; Cavort”, William Safire criticizes White House rhetorics who apparently use the word to mean consort, and discusses its possible origins.