curvet
Americannoun
verb (used without object)
-
to leap in a curvet, as a horse; cause one's horse to do this.
-
to leap and frisk.
verb (used with object)
noun
verb
-
dressage to make or cause to make such a leap
-
(intr) to prance or frisk about
Etymology
Origin of curvet
1565–75; earlier curvetto < Italian corvetta < French courbette, equivalent to courb(er) to bend, curve (≪ Latin curvāre; cf. curve) + -ette -ette ( def. )
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.
See Examples For:
Tigers walk treadmills, horses curvet superbly and Harry Rittely sits atop seven tables and topples over backwards.
From Time Magazine Archive
Elizabeth's Winston, pestered by a swarm of thunder flies, began to curvet alarmingly.
From Time Magazine Archive
When my bright scabbard bounded by thy side, And shouts of victory our toils repaid, The stately curvet, and the pacing stride, None of our troops so gracefully displayed.
From The Mirror of Taste, and Dramatic Censor, Vol. I, No. 6, June 1810 by Carpenter, S. C. (Stephen Cullen)
This plan has its advantages; it allows, for instance, the writer's pen to curvet as well as the artist's pencil.
From Comic Bible Sketches Reprinted from "The Freethinker" by Foote, G. W. (George William)
Surreptitiously goaded by the spur, their steeds plunge and curvet, apparently progressing at a rapid pace, but in reality gaining little ground.
From The Flag of Distress A Story of the South Sea by Reid, Mayne
Alexander sighed with delight when they led her out from her stable and she walked about with Ian beside her, and when presently Ian mounted she curveted and caracoled.
From Foes by Johnston, Mary
The bay horses curveted and pranced, the coachman sprang to his seat, a big red motor backed, snorted, honked, and whizzed past them.
From Captivating Mary Carstairs by Crosby, Raymond Moreau
It curveted, it kicked, it jumped a little drain, it careered into the water, making a tremendous splashing.
From Red Pottage by Cholmondeley, Mary
He curveted into the room as if he had bought it and the rest of the city.
From The Man with Two Left Feet And Other Stories by Wodehouse, P. G. (Pelham Grenville)
He was in a very pessimistic frame of mind when Jimmy curveted into the room, with his head in the clouds and his feet on air.
From The Gem Collector by Wodehouse, P. G. (Pelham Grenville)
When she recovered self-possession enough to peep out, she saw that the young man's horse was curveting back and forth across the big road in a most alarming manner.
From Oldfield A Kentucky Tale of the Last Century by Banks, Nancy Huston
The river—the baby—the river—the baby; and in and through, and betwixt and between, there spun the whirling merry-go-round, with its curveting wooden horses, its discordant organ, and its creaking machinery.
From The Village Watch-Tower by Wiggin, Kate Douglas Smith
“Much obliged to you, sir, for the information,” said Whaup, controlling, with some difficulty, the incessant curveting of his steed.
From Tales from "Blackwood," Volume 2 by Various
Cancut navigated Birch through some white water below the dam, and Birch went curveting proudly and gracefully along, evidently feeling his oats.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 10, No. 62, December, 1862 by Various
A touch of the spur to my horse and I was abreast of them, Frances Sutherland curveting her cayuse from the trail to give me middle place.
From Lords of the North by Laut, Agnes C. (Agnes Christina)
At Sundra Straits, he curvetted over the mountains and jungles of Sumbawa, Dutch island.
From Time Magazine Archive
Over Dayton, Ohio, last week curvetted three new little airplanes, undergoing rigorous U. S. Army Air Corps tests in its present search for an advanced type training plane.
From Time Magazine Archive
Twenty feet above Aslan and Digory he snorted, neighed, and curvetted.
From "The Magician's Nephew" by C. S. Lewis
Obedient to the lightest touch or word of his master, with ears in restless motion, he curvetted like a racer under the wire.
From The Eagle's Heart by Garland, Hamlin
But though Martin held her head, the animal yet started and shied and curvetted every time Miss Kit gathered the reins in her hand and lifted her foot to the stirrup.
From Kilgorman A Story of Ireland in 1798 by Reed, Talbot Baines
Alfredo, made his pony caper and look hard to ride, curvetting, sidling, closer and closer.
From Time Magazine Archive
The horses can smell the tiger scent and begin neighing and curvetting, trying to get away from it.
From "Tiger, Tiger" by Lynne Reid Banks
High and dry, fires had been built and the flames were darting and curvetting among the trees.
From The War Chief of the Six Nations A Chronicle of Joseph Brant by Langton, H. H. (Hugh Hornby)
Teresina also arose before my imagination curvetting on her proud steed with the lute in her hands, like Art herself disguised in romance.
From Weird Tales. Vol. I by Hoffmann, E. T. A. (Ernst Theodor Amadeus)
It was a stirring scene of meeting, and chatting, and laughing, and rearing, and curvetting, and fresh air, and sunshine.
From The Floating Light of the Goodwin Sands by Ballantyne, R. M. (Robert Michael)
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.
