cabriole
Americannoun
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cabrioles
plural
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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.
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Ballet. a leap in which one leg is raised in the air and the other is brought up to beat against it.
noun
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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
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ballet a leap in the air with one leg outstretched and the other beating against it
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of cabriole
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
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The simple set, by the collective dots, features a purple-lacquered dining table and chairs with cabriole legs; flowers in sconces; and soft green walls.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 17, 2025
Eclectic elements that flout midcentury design conventions: a 1930s cabinet from the Cotswold in England, and a Danish dining table with comely cabriole legs that would make a strict modernist hyperventilate.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2016
Its attenuated cabriole legs, delicate swags, and flowering-urn ornamentation reference the Louis XV period, but the diminutive artifact is surfaced in then-fashion-forward shagreen and ebony.
From Architectural Digest ● Aug. 27, 2014
Whoever did what, it’s a glamorous golden set, often focused on Angelo’s gilded desk with cabriole legs and a few ornate chairs.
From New York Times ● Aug. 19, 2012
Five minutes later a cabriole made its appearance, drawn by a shaggy pony and led by a villager.
From The Red Rat's Daughter by Guy Boothby
But ballet steps — pas de chat, cabrioles, grands fouettés sautés and more — abound; so do Cunningham uses of legs and torso.
From New York Times ● Feb. 5, 2014
He threw a snappy salute and then, breaking free, rocketed through the air in flashing cabrioles that made the audience gasp.
From Time Magazine Archive
On the road, we passed several hundreds of persons in carriages, cabrioles, or walking; all with merry faces, in showy clothes, and adorned with bouquets, on their route to this spot of favourite delight.
From The Stranger in France or, a Tour from Devonshire to Paris Illustrated by Engravings in Aqua Tint of Sketches Taken on the Spot. by Sir John Carr
And the almost pert flings and cabrioles of the narrator form a still more obvious and direct Declaration of Independence.
From A History of the French Novel, Vol. 1 From the Beginning to 1800 by George Saintsbury
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