scamper
verbEtymology First attested in 1687. Origin uncertain, but possibly from Dutch schamperen, from Old French escamper, from Vulgar Latin *excampāre.
1
To run lightly and quickly, especially in a playful or undignified manner.
- The dog scampered after the squirrel.
- [W]hy if you don't ſcamper, you'll be baſtil'd, before you can ſay, "Killarney."1791 (first performance), [Frederic] Reynolds, Notoriety: A Comedy, Dublin: […] P. Byrne, […], published 1792, →OCLC, Act IV, scene [i], page 43:
3 more examples
- And so saying he scampered off to the hill, to the amusement of honest Plat; and it is likely lost no time in making his advances to the young widow.1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 198:
- The younger and lighter members of his tribe scampered to the higher branches of the great trees to escape his wrath; risking their lives upon branches that scarce supported their weight rather than face old Kerchak in one of his fits of uncontrolled anger.1912 October, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Tarzan of the Apes”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as chapter 1, in Tarzan of the Apes, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, June 1914, →OCLC:
- Three minutes later, Luka Modric scampered down the right, clipped a cross to the near post and Ronaldo’s clipped finish gave the remainder of the match an air of inevitability.2017 June 3, Daniel Taylor, “Real Madrid win Champions League as Cristiano Ronaldo double defeats Juve”, in The Guardian (London):
- Derived terms
- scamperer, scamperingly