Gambol
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: /ˈɡæm.bəl/
- Rhymes: -æmbəl
- Homophones: gamble
Origin
From earlier gambolde, from Middle French gambade
Full definition of gambol
Verb
- (intransitive) To move about playfully; to frolic.
- 1835: , , , (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.
- Orwell Animal Farm|2In the ecstasy of that thought they gambolled round and round, they hurled themselves into great leaps of excitement.
- 1948, F. H. Lyon, Kon-Tiki Chapter 5, whales quite enjoyed themselves gamboling freely among the waves in the sunshine.
- 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.
- (British, regional) to do a forward roll
Noun
gambol
(plural gambols)- An instance of running or skipping about playfully.
- 1843: Edgar Allan Poe, The Gold Bug, page 10When 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.
- An instance of more general frisking or frolicking.
- 1819, s:Author:Washington Irving, s:The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, There was a delicious sensation of mingled security and awe with which I looked down, from my giddy height, on the monsters of the deep at their uncouth gambols.