gallivant

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Contents

[edit] English

[edit] Alternative forms

[edit] Etymology

1809, from gallant (wooing women),[1] originally in sense “to flirt”, broadened to mean “roaming without plan”.

[edit] Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA: /ˈɡæl.ɪ.vænt/
  • (US) IPA: /ˈɡæl.ɪ.vænt/, /ˌɡæl.əˈvænt/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -ænt

[edit] Verb

gallivant (third-person singular simple present gallivants, present participle gallivanting, simple past and past participle gallivanted)

  1. (intransitive) To roam about for pleasure without any definite plan.
    1914 Bertram, it is true, when he heard of the plan, rebelled, and asserted that what Billy needed was a rest, an entire rest from care and labor. In fact, what he wanted her to do, he said, was to gallivant -- to gallivant all day long. — Eleanor H.Porter Miss Billy--Married, Chapter 18.
  2. (intransitive, obsolete) To flirt, to romance.

[edit] Synonyms

  • (roam without plan): gad

[edit] Translations

[edit] References

  1. ^gallivant” in the Online Etymology Dictionary, Douglas Harper, 2001
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