caracole
Americannoun
-
a half turn executed by a horse and rider.
-
Rare. a winding staircase.
verb (used without object)
noun
-
dressage a half turn to the right or left
-
a spiral staircase
verb
Other Word Forms
- caracoler noun
Etymology
Origin of caracole
1650–60; < French < Spanish caracol snail, spiral shell or stair, turning movement (of a horse)
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.
Bryant Park around the corner doesn’t mind the butterfly caracoling off the side of three o’clock, the hour in the city visiting friends.
From New York Times
Shadow’s mount caracoled away from it, and Shadow stroked its neck and told it not to be afraid.
From Literature
As he caracoled up and down before the house, with the sun shining on his fair head, he looked to my eyes as beautiful as Apollo.
From Project Gutenberg
The Captain of Vlaye, stooping his sinewy figure to his companion, well became a horse that moved as he moved, and caracoled because he allowed it.
From Project Gutenberg
The horses of our equestrians, in the pride of their beautiful breed and their bright, shining backs, caracoled incessantly, which ostentatious display of their muscular power in the morning light raised clouds of dust.
From Project Gutenberg
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
