caper1
[key-per]
- to leap or skip about in a sprightly manner; prance; frisk; gambol.
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- a playful leap or skip.
- a prank or trick; harebrained escapade.
- a frivolous, carefree episode or activity.
- Slang. a criminal or illegal act, as a burglary or robbery.
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- cut a caper. cut(def 84).
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Origin of caper1
1585–95; figurative use of Latin caper he-goat (cognate with Old English hæfer, Old Norse hafr, Old Irish caera sheep < a West IE term *kap-(e)ro- for a domesticated smaller animal); for the meaning, cf. dog (v.)
Synonyms
See more synonyms for caper on Thesaurus.com3. stunt, antic, shenanigans. 4. spree, frolic.
caper2
[key-per]
- a spiny shrub, Capparis spinosa, of Mediterranean regions, having roundish leaves and solitary white flowers.
- its flower bud, which is pickled and used for garnish or seasoning.
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Compare caper family.
Origin of caper2
1350–1400; back formation from capers (taken for plural), Middle English caperes < Latin capparis < Greek kápparis
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for caper
Contemporary Examples
I sought them out and mapped out what a true-to-life 21st-century caper would look like at the most powerful bank in capitalism.
For instance, Antonio Reyna met English in a McAllen bar the night before the caper and somehow wound up in the van the next day.
A week after the caper, Brian Wedgworth, the lookout, went back to the border wall.
What is fact regarding the U.S. version is that it started off as a North by Northwest-style caper for Tom Cruise.
They followed their first film with the James Bond-ish caper Help!
Historical Examples
Adams gave a caper, and cry'd out, "It would do; for that he had sixpence himself."
Joseph Andrews, Vol. 2Henry Fielding
Caper sauce, by adding capers; or, as a substitute, chopped gherkin.
The Skilful CookMary Harrison
If roasted, it should be served with red-currant jelly; if boiled, with caper sauce.
The Skilful CookMary Harrison
So saying, Hilbert began to caper about the deck in the exuberance of his joy.
Rollo on the AtlanticJacob Abbott
So saying, Rollo began to caper about with delight, and then ran off to meet his uncle.
Rollo on the AtlanticJacob Abbott
caper1
- a playful skip or leap
- a high-spirited escapade
- cut a caper or cut capers
- to skip or jump playfully
- to act or behave playfully; frolic
- slang a crime, esp an organized robbery
- Australian informal a job or occupation
- Australian informal a person's behaviour
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- (intr) to leap or dance about in a light-hearted manner
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Word Origin
C16: probably from capriole
caper2
- a spiny trailing Mediterranean capparidaceous shrub, Capparis spinosa, with edible flower buds
- any of various similar plants or their edible partsSee also bean caper, capers
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Word Origin
C15: from earlier capers, capres (assumed to be plural), from Latin capparis, from Greek kapparis
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
Word Origin and History for caper
v.
1580s, apparently short for obsolete capriole "to leap, skip," probably from Italian capriolare "jump in the air" (see cab). Related: Capered; capering.
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n.1
type of prickly Mediterranean bush, also in reference to the plant's edible buds, late 14c., from Latin capparis (source of Italian cappero, French câpre, German Kaper), from Greek kapparis "the caper plant or its fruit," of uncertain origin. Arabic kabbar, Persian kabar are from Greek. Perhaps reborrowed into English 16c. The final -s was mistaken for a plural inflection in English and dropped.
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n.2
by 1590s, "playful leap or jump," from caper (v.); meaning "prank" is from 1840; that of "crime" is from 1926. To cut capers "dance in a frolicsome way" is from c.1600.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper