scamper
- to run or go hastily or quickly.
- to run playfully about, as a child.
- a scampering; a quick run.
Origin of scamper
Related Words for scamper
scuttle, zip, romp, skip, scurry, dart, bolt, scoot, sprint, hurry, trot, shoot, fly, skedaddle, tear, flee, race, hie, hasten, speedExamples 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 EvolutionSamuel Christian Schmucker
Bannock barked for joy also, and struggled up to scamper back to his master.
The Fiery TotemArgyll 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 RollMary 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, 1782Lucinda Lee Orr
scamper
- to run about playfully
- (often foll by through) to hurry quickly through (a place, task, book, etc)
- the act of scampering
Word Origin for scamper
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.