scamper

[skam-per]

See more synonyms for scamper on Thesaurus.com

verb (used without object)

to run or go hastily or quickly.
to run playfully about, as a child.

noun

a scampering; a quick run.

Origin of scamper

1680–90; obsolete scamp to go (see scamp) + -er⁶

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for scamper

scuttle, zip, romp, skip, scurry, dart, bolt, scoot, sprint, hurry, trot, shoot, fly, skedaddle, tear, flee, race, hie, hasten, speed

Examples from the Web for scamper

Historical Examples of scamper

Let it but scamper across the corner, and at once it is discovered.
The Meaning of Evolution
Samuel Christian Schmucker
Bannock barked for joy also, and struggled up to scamper back to his master.
The Fiery Totem
Argyll Saxby
How Miss Bella Curtis did scamper for her two cents to pay the postman!
The Little Nightcap Letters.
Frances Elizabeth Barrow
Either we will gloriously take them, or they will limber up and scamper after Jackson.
The Long Roll
Mary Johnston
Just as we were undress'd and going to bed, the Gentlemen arrived, and we had to scamper.
Journal of a Young Lady of Virginia, 1782
Lucinda Lee Orr

British Dictionary definitions for scamper

scamper

verb (intr)

to run about playfully
(often foll by through) to hurry quickly through (a place, task, book, etc)

noun

the act of scampering

Derived Formsscamperer, noun

Word Origin for scamper

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for scamper

"to run quickly," 1680s, probably from Flemish schampeeren, frequentative of schampen "run away," from Old North French escamper (Old French eschamper) "to run away, flee, quit the battlefield, escape," from Vulgar Latin *excampare "decamp," literally "leave the field," from Latin ex campo, from ex "out of" (see ex-) + campo, ablative of campus "field" (see campus). A vogue word late 17c. Related: Scampered; scampering. The noun is 1680s, from the verb.