coltish
Americanadjective
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playful; frolicsome.
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of, relating to, or resembling a colt.
-
not trained or disciplined; unruly; wild.
adjective
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inexperienced; unruly
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playful and lively
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of coltish
Explanation
An energetic, playful person can be described as coltish. A coltish preschooler might skip happily across the room and then slide to a stop in her socks. There's something a little young and awkward implied in the word coltish, which arose in the 14th century from the sense of a colt, or young horse, as a lively, frolicking, long-legged creature. Skinny-legged teenagers dashing around a mall are coltish, and a soccer team of five year-olds is made up of happy, coltish players.
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.
One of the youngsters was a coltish winger from Carmagnola, a pretty market town just south of Turin.
From BBC ● Apr. 3, 2023
And those girls are indeed a light: Sidney and Singleton show giggly chemistry as sisters and coltish joy on the tennis courts.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 16, 2021
Ramirez muttered and sighed as the teens, with their baby faces and coltish bodies, bumbled a run-through.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2019
Fast forward 10 years and that coltish, mismatched City team seems entirely unrelated to the current high-spec model.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 9, 2018
Seeing him paw the ground and whinny only served to emphasize how leggy and coltish he had become.
From "The Unseen Guest" by Maryrose Wood
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.
