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
How proudly the slender lady sat, allowing her black horse to curvet!
From Withered Leaves. Vol. II. (of III) A Novel by Rudolf von Gottschall
When the local was still far behind she would begin to curvet and take the bit between her teeth.
From The Biography of a Prairie Girl by Eleanor Gates
Lenore bowed low, and made her pony curvet gayly.
From Debit and Credit Translated from the German of Gustav Freytag by Gustav Freytag
When Wat Gordon mounted into the saddle with an easy spring his horse bent back its head and curveted, biting at his foot.
From The Men of the Moss-Hags Being a history of adventure taken from the papers of William Gordon of Earlstoun in Galloway by S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett
And at this the dog yelped again and curveted sheer across the room.
From A Transient Guest and Other Episodes by Edgar Saltus
In front of us sat our commandant, Count Reichenbach, reining in his splendid English roan, which snorted and curveted with impatience.
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 60, No. 373, November 1846 by Various
She turned her head and saw him looking after her, and in her pleasure at the sight she reined in Ali until he reared erect in the air and curveted proudly.
From Only a Girl: or, A Physician for the Soul. by Wilhelmine von Hillern
Jerry pranced and curveted, and finally shot forward his rider, or rather his burden, headforemost, a distance of several feet into the water.
From Wau-bun The Early Day in the Northwest by Juliette Augusta Magill Kinzie
Let me read it for you, dear Tanty, the picture hangs a little high and those curveting letters are hard to decipher.
From The Light of Scarthey by Egerton Castle
He was superbly mounted, and his long body made a heroic figure on the curveting charger.
From The Missourian by Eugene P. (Eugene Percy) Lyle
But alas, you can’t codify genuflections, nor yet a handshake. 123The next degree in the imperial advent was the imperial courier, who proclaimed from a curveting steed what everybody suspected.
From The Missourian by Eugene P. (Eugene Percy) Lyle
Our young hero presented his revolver, but they apparently knew the short range of the weapon, and came plunging, curveting onward.
From Overland by J. W. (John William) De Forest
"Oh, do stop!" she continued to the horse who now on the level again, began sidling and curveting.
From Dulcibel A Tale of Old Salem by Howard Pyle
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
At Sundra Straits, he curvetted over the mountains and jungles of Sumbawa, Dutch island.
From Time Magazine Archive
Twenty feet above Aslan and Digory he snorted, neighed, and curvetted.
From "The Magician's Nephew" by C. S. Lewis
Across the front of the Macedonians rode a man upon a great black horse that curvetted and tossed the foam from his bit.
From The Golden Hope A Story of the Time of King Alexander the Great by Robert H. Fuller
While far away, upon wooden chargers, Balmawhapple's cavalry curvetted on the slopes of Arthur's Seat and cracked vain pistols at the frowning fortress.
From Red Cap Tales Stolen from the Treasure Chest of the Wizard of the North by Sir Walter Scott
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
Raby, while waiting, amused herself with cutting some graceful figures and curvetting to and fro, but always, as Jeffreys noted with concern, edging nearer to the river.
From A Dog with a Bad Name by Talbot Baines Reed
Dozens of wild fellows were curvetting and racing around him.
From The Red Man's Revenge A Tale of The Red River Flood by R. M. (Robert Michael) Ballantyne
Teresina sometimes dawns on my memory, curvetting with her lyre on her charger, like some incarnation of music; and, spite of myself, I write loftier and more serious strains when I think of this.
From The Serapion Brethren, Vol. I. by Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann
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