scamper

[skam-per]

verb (used without object)

1. to run or go hastily or quickly.

2. to run playfully about, as a child.

noun

1. a scampering; a quick run.

scamper

/ ˈskæmpə /

verb

1. to run about playfully

2. (often foll by through) to hurry quickly through (a place, task, book, etc)

noun

1. the act of scampering

Other Word Forms

• scamperer noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of scamper¹

1680–90; obsolete scamp to go ( scamp ) + -er ⁶

Word History and Origins

Origin of scamper¹

C17: probably from scamp (vb); see _scamp ¹

Example Sentences

Orchards, wildernesses and bowers abound in her fiction, where her heroines contemplate curated views or scamper across fields and over stiles.

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Woo scampers up to the troll holding Autumn and starts throwing tiny punches at his ankle—but Autumn’s captor doesn’t even seem to feel it.

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She dropped to all fours and scampered along the floor, just as she used to.

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At Beowulf’s chirruping call, the little rodent scampered into the nursery and offered Penelope a great prize indeed: a single perfect acorn, carried with pride in those tiny, monkeylike paws.

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“I will give you the loveliest present if you could scamper off and not come back. A nice, crunchy bone, perhaps?”

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Related Words

• bolt 
• dart 
• hurry 
• romp 
• scoot 
• scurry 
• scuttle 
• skip 
• sprint 
• trot 
• zip