cabriole

[ kab-ree-ohl; French ka-bree-awl ]

noun,plural cab·ri·oles [kab-ree-ohlz; French ka-bree-awl]. /ˈkæb riˌoʊlz; French ka briˈɔl/.
  1. Furniture. a curved, tapering leg curving outward at the top and inward farther down so as to end in a round pad, the semblance of an animal's paw, or some other feature: used especially in the first half of the 18th century.

  2. Ballet. a leap in which one leg is raised in the air and the other is brought up to beat against it.

Origin of cabriole

1
1775–85; <French: leap, caper; so called because modeled on leg of a capering animal (see capriole); b by influence of cabri kid (≪ Old Provençal ) and kindred words

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

British Dictionary definitions for cabriole

cabriole

/ (ˈkæbrɪˌəʊl) /


noun
  1. Also called: cabriole leg a type of furniture leg, popular in the first half of the 18th century, in which an upper convex curve descends tapering to a concave curve

  2. ballet a leap in the air with one leg outstretched and the other beating against it

Origin of cabriole

1
C18: from French, from cabrioler to caper; from its being based on the leg of a capering animal; see cabriolet

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012