cavort
verbUK /kəˈvɔːt/ · CA, US /kəˈvɔɹt/
Etymology Originated in the United States in 1793, as cauvaut, applying to horses, probably from the colloquial intensifying prefix ca-/ka- + vault (“jump, leap”); later generalized. Early sources connect it to cavault, a term for a certain demeanor of horses. Alternatively, a variation of curvet.
1
Of horses To prance, frolic, gambol.
- […] when the young man whirled his horse, “hazed” Jupiter in circles and belaboured him with a rawhide quirt, […] He ceased his cavortings […]1920, Peter B. Kyne, chapter I, in The Understanding Heart:
2
To move about carelessly, playfully or boisterously.
- And dragon-flies sported around and cavorted, / As poets say dragon-flies ought to do; […]1900, Guy Wetmore Carryl, “The Embarrassing Episode of Little Miss Muffet”, in Mother Goose for Grownups:
- He whirligigged and pirouetted, dancing and cavorting round like an inebriated ape.1911, Jack London, “Chapter XI”, in The Cruise of the Snark:
3 more examples
- […]and soon a high-spirited snowball fight was being waged by dozens of happy, hyperkinetic boys cavorting in dungarees and T-shirts, in sweatsuits, in pajamas, even some in only underwear.2008, Philip Roth, Indignation:
- They descended by the tens of thousands on Britain’s southern beaches and jammed into city parks. They cavorted by the hundreds in streams.2020 June 26, Ceylan Yeginsu, “Lockdown? What Lockdown? Heat Wave Brings Britons Out in Droves”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
- […] while a woman in a bright red coat cavorts through a crosswalk with what appears to be an impeccably groomed Afghan hound.2021 February 24, Nicholas Kulish, “When Influencers Make Fools of Themselves”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
3
Informal To engage in extravagant pursuits, especially of a sexual nature.
- As he moves back into the shadows, the stage is taken over by a troupe of Pan-like dancers, leaping and cavorting in an obscene ballet.1965, Attila Zohar, Kings Cross Black Magic, Sydney: Horwitz Publications, page 94:
- We can't even write stories about moguls like Rupert Murdoch or Barry Diller unless it involves photographs of them cavorting with young flesh.2014, Astra Taylor, quoting James Fallows, The People's Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age, Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN:
- Derived terms
- cavorter, cavortingly
- Related terms
- horse around