Cavort
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: /kəˈvÉ”Ët/
- US IPA: /kəˈvɔɹt/
- Rhymes: -É”Ë(ɹ)t
Origin
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.
Full definition of cavort
Verb
- (originally intransitive) To prance, said of mounts
- 1920, Peter B. Kyne, The Understanding Heart, Chapter I:... when the young man whirled his horse, “hazed†Jupiter in circles and belaboured him with a rawhide quirt, ... He ceased his cavortings ...
- (intransitive) To move about carelessly, playfully or boisterously.
- 1900, Guy Wetmore Carryl, Mother Goose for Grownups, “â€:And dragon-flies sported around and cavorted,
As poets say dragon-flies ought to do; ... - 1911, Jack London, , :He whirligigged and pirouetted, dancing and cavorting round like an inebriated ape.