cavort

English

WOTD – 7 September 2008

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]

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /kəˈvɔːt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /kəˈvɔɹt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

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• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)t

Verb

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

1. (originally intransitive, of horses) To prance, frolic, gambol.
   • 1920, Peter B. Kyne, chapter I, in The Understanding Heart:

     […] 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.

   Synonyms: romp, frolic, prance, caper

   • 1900, Guy Wetmore Carryl, “The Embarrassing Episode of Little Miss Muffet”, in Mother Goose for Grownups:

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

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

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

   • 2008, Philip Roth, Indignation:

     […] 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.

   • 2020 June 26, Ceylan Yeginsu, “Lockdown? What Lockdown? Heat Wave Brings Britons Out in Droves”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:

     They descended by the tens of thousands on Britain’s southern beaches and jammed into city parks. They cavorted by the hundreds in streams.

   • 2021 February 24, Nicholas Kulish, “When Influencers Make Fools of Themselves”, 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.

3. (informal) To engage in extravagant pursuits, especially of a sexual nature.
   • 2014, Astra Taylor, quoting James Fallows, The People's Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age, Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN:

     We can't even write stories about moguls like Rupert Murdoch or Barry Diller unless it involves photographs of them cavorting with young flesh.

Derived terms

• cavorter
• cavortingly

 

Translations

prance

Czech: skotačit impf Dutch: steigeren (nl) Esperanto: pranci

move/play boisterously

Chinese: 嫐 (zh) (nǎo) (nǎo), 撕罗 (zh) (sī luo) Czech: dovádět (cs) impf, skotačit impf Dutch: dartelen (nl), ronddollen Esperanto: kaprioli, ĉirkausalti Estonian: hullama Finnish: kirmailla (fi) French: cabrioler (fr) German: herumtollen (de), herumtanzen Irish: pocléim Italian: fare capriole Maori: cavort Polish: figlować (pl), swawolić (pl) Portuguese: curvetear (pt) Russian: резви́ться (ru) (rezvítʹsja) Spanish: retozar (es), juguetear (es) Swedish: leka (sv)

See also

• horse around

References

1. “cavort”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “cavort”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
• “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.

Anagrams

• VORTAC