scamper

[ skam-per ]
See synonyms for: scamperscamperedscampering on Thesaurus.com

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.

Origin of scamper

1
1680–90; obsolete scamp to go (see scamp) + -er6

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use scamper in a sentence

  • There, behind the sleigh, running and leaping and paddling and waddling and frisking and scampering came a strange procession.

    Seven O'Clock Stories | Robert Gordon Anderson
  • There was a laughable cuddling down and scampering for the coal-bunkers, the engine-room, and between decks.

    The Boys of '61 | Charles Carleton Coffin.
  • As they watched the carriage and the scampering steeds, the children shouted and clapped their hands.

    Napoleon's Young Neighbor | Helen Leah Reed
  • With her scampering son, she crossed the field, going toward the lake, the morning after the expected visit from Lewson.

British Dictionary definitions for scamper

scamper

/ (ˈskæmpə) /


verb(intr)
  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

Origin of scamper

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

Derived forms of scamper

  • scamperer, noun

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