cavort

verb

ca·​vort kə-ˈvȯrt How to pronounce cavort (audio)
cavorted; cavorting; cavorts
Synonyms of cavortnext

intransitive verb

1
: to leap or dance about in a lively manner
Otters cavorted in the stream.
2
: to engage in extravagant behavior
The governor has been criticized for cavorting with celebrities.

Synonyms

See all Synonyms & Antonyms in Thesaurus 

Examples of cavort in a Sentence

Otters cavorted in the stream. children cavorting on the first sunny day of spring
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Celebrities regularly cavorted in Tramp, the glitzy nightclub that first made a splash in London’s Mayfair in 1969. —Alia Akkam, Architectural Digest, 28 Oct. 2024 Drummers beat time, firecrackers burst and fizz, and demons cavort and dance. —Matt Ralphs, Smithsonian Magazine, 10 Oct. 2024 Neil Mockford Kate Moss was particularly into the look: a cursory search through Getty Images will reveal hundreds of images of the model cavorting around London with silk things knotted at the chest like a charming Left-Bank babe. —Daniel Rodgers, Vogue, 27 Sep. 2024 Underwater Jetpack This sleek electric jetpack delivers effortless, dolphin-like diving, spinning, and cavorting at nine feet per second. —J. George Gorant, Robb Report, 7 Sep. 2024 See all Example Sentences for cavort 

Word History

Etymology

earlier also cauvaut, cavault, covault, of obscure origin

Note: All early attestations of the word are North American, the first known (as cauvauted) in a letter written by the North Carolina politician John Steele in April, 1794. Various etymologies have been suggested: that the word is altered from curvet entry 1; that it is comprised of the unstressed expressive prefix ca- (as in caboodle) and vault entry 3; that it has some relation with French chahuter "to dance the chahut (a boisterous, somewhat indecent dance), to make an uproar" (see Leo Spitzer, "Cavort," Journal of English and Germanic Philology, vol. 48 (1949), pp. 132-37). Apparently the same word is cavaulting "coition" in John Camden Hotten's A Dictionary of Modern, Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words (London, 1859). In the second edition of Hotten's dictionary (London, 1860) the word has the etymological note "Lingua Franca, cavolta," though there appears to be no evidence for such a word in Lingua Franca.

First Known Use

1794, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of cavort was in 1794

Dictionary Entries Near cavort

cavo-relievo

cavort

Cavour

See More Nearby Entries 

Cite this Entry

“Cavort.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cavort. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.

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Kids Definition

cavort

verb
ca·​vort kə-ˈvȯ(ə)rt How to pronounce cavort (audio)
: to leap or dance about in a lively manner

More from Merriam-Webster on cavort

Nglish: Translation of cavort for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of cavort for Arabic Speakers

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