cavort

[ kuh-vawrt ]

verb (used without object)

1. to prance or caper about.
2. to behave in a high-spirited, festive manner; have a lively good time; revel.

cavort

/ kəˈvɔːt /

verb

1. intr to prance; caper

Derived Forms

• caˈvorter, noun

Other Words From

• ca·vort·er noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of cavort¹

An Americanism dating back to 1785–95; earlier cavault, perhaps cur(vet) ( def ) + vault ²( def )

Word History and Origins

Origin of cavort¹

C19: perhaps from curvet

Example Sentences

In the 1910s, British author Arthur Conan Doyle was famously deceived by two school-aged sisters who had produced photographs of elegant fairies cavorting in their garden.

From Singularity Hub 

On September 8, a throng of fans cavorted around the stage as the heavy metal band Pentakill performed live.

From Digiday

The night before she left for the trail, Diggins cavorted in her urban backyard, yipping so loudly a neighbor called the Duluth police, afraid a wild animal had invaded the neighborhood.

From Outside Online

If you ever thought grown men cavorting with women dressed as bunnies was infantile, well, then, I suppose it makes sense that a children’s author would want to make his home in the Playboy Mansion.

From Ozy

“A Bright Ray of Darkness” opens during a storm of negative media coverage that erupts when the young heartthrob William Harding is spotted cavorting with a woman — not his rock star wife — in Cape Town, South Africa.

From Washington Post

The complaint further alleges that Glock had a personal slush fund that he used to “cavort with women around the world.”

From The Daily Beast

But watching him cavort with Johnny Damon brought something to mind.

From The Daily Beast

Wild monkeys cavort next to a small cemetery filled with gray gravestones.

From The Daily Beast

It has a bathing beach where the gals show what they've got and fat men flounder and cavort far beyond their capacities.

From Project Gutenberg

I admit that it was a beautiful sight to see them cavort around that ploughed field.

From Project Gutenberg

Then a second and a third stallion, and all the stallions, begin to cavort on their forelegs over the precipitous landscape.

From Project Gutenberg

The ole he catfish had a fine eye for purty women, and used to cavort around near the cabin whenever his business would permit.

From Project Gutenberg

It was one of those voices that fairly cavort over big distances, and I buried my head in the shell as the pair came closer.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• fool around
• gambol
• romp