gambol

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Pronunciation 1.2 Verb 1.3 Noun

[edit] English

[edit] Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈgæmbɒl/

[edit] Verb

to gambol (third-person singular simple present gambols, present participle (UK) gambolling or (US) gamboling, simple past and past participle (UK) gambolled or (US) gamboled)

1. (intransitive) To run and skip about playfully; to frolic.
   • 1835: William Gilmore Simms, The Partisan: A Romance of the Revolution, chapter XI, page 134 (Harper)

     The lawn spread freely onward, as of old, over which, in sweet company, he had once gambolled.

   • 1907: Paul Lafargue, The rights of the horse, page 160

     […] she remains near him to suckle him and teach him to choose the delicious grasses of the meadow, in which he gambols until he is grown.

   • 1944: George Orwell, Animal Farm, page 15

     In the ecstasy of that thought they gambolled round and round, they hurled themselves into great leaps of excitement.

   • 1995: Neal Stephenson, The Diamond Age: or a Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer, page 286 (ISBN 0553380966)

     Three girls moved across the billiard-table lawn of a great manor house, circling and swarming about a common center of gravity like gamboling sparrows.

[edit] Noun

gambol (plural gambols)

1. An instance of running or skipping about playfully.
   • 1843: Edgar Allen Poe, The Gold Bug, page 10

     When his gambols were over, I looked at the paper, and, to speak the truth, found myself not a little puzzled at what my friend had depicted.