Frolic

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ˈfɹɒlɪk/
• US IPA: /ˈfɹɑːlɪk/
• Rhymes: -É’lɪk

Alternative forms

• frolick

Origin

From Dutch vrolijk ("cheerful"). Compare German fröhlich ("blitheful, gaily, happy, merry").

Full definition of frolic

Adjective

1. (now rare) Merry, joyous; later especially, frolicsome, sportive, full of playful mischief.
• MiltonThe frolic wind that breathes the spring.
• WallerThe gay, the frolic, and the loud.
• 1897, Henry James, What Maisie Knew:Beale, under this frolic menace, took nothing back at all; he was indeed apparently on the point of repeating his extravagence, but Miss Overmore instructed her little charge that she was not to listen to his bad jokes ....
2. (obsolete, rare) Free; liberal; bountiful; generous.

Noun

1. Gaiety; merriment.
• 1832-1888, Louisa May Alcottthe annual jubilee ... filled the souls of old and young with visions of splendour, frolic and fun.
2. A playful antic.
• RoscommonHe would be at his frolic once again.

Verb

1. (intransitive) To romp; to behave playfully and uninhibitedly.
2. (transitive, archaic) To cause to be merry.

Derived terms

• rollick

Related terms

• frolicsome