English

Verb

cavort ‎(third-person singular simple present cavorts, present participle cavorting, simple past and past participle cavorted)

1. (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 […]

2. (intransitive) To move about carelessly, playfully or boisterously.
   • 1900, Guy Wetmore Carryl, Mother Goose for Grownups, “The Embarrassing Episode of Little Miss Muffet”:

     And dragon-flies sported around and cavorted, / As poets say dragon-flies ought to do; […]

   • 1911, Jack London, The Cruise of the Snark, Chapter XI:

     He whirligigged and pirouetted, dancing and cavorting round like an inebriated ape.

Synonyms

• (move about boisterously): romp, frolic, prance, caper

Translations

See also

• horse around

References

• “cavort” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).
• “The Way We Live Now: 7-14-02: On Language; Cavort”, William Safire criticizes White House rhetorics who apparently use the word to mean consort, and discusses its possible origins.