caracole
Americannoun
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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
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.
He began to rear and caracole as if he were about to suffer transformation into a colt.
From Time Magazine Archive
The crude might of the queen was transformed into refined power, restrained and directed by a system of sparkling levers; the pawns grew cleverer; the knights stepped forth with a Spanish caracole .
From Time Magazine Archive
Sunshine revisited the countenance of Master Jeremy Sparrow; he swung his great body into the saddle, gathered up the reins, and made the mare to caracole across the path for very joy.
From To Have and to Hold by Johnston, Mary
In his joyous caracole round the lists, the attention of the Prince was called by the commotion, not yet subsided, which had attended the ambitious movement of Isaac towards the higher places of the assembly.
From Ivanhoe by Scott, Walter, Sir
The dignified and stern headmaster was actually seen to dandle infants and to caracole upon the hearthrug on all fours.
From Eminent Victorians by Strachey, Giles Lytton
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.
