curvet

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   Of a horse or, by extension, another animal

   Of a horse or, by extension, another animal: to leap about, to frolic.

   • [T]he dog—a magnificent Newfoundland—that had come galloping down the field to meet us, began curveting round us, in gambols full of graceful beauty, and welcoming us with short joyful barks.
2. 2

   To cause to leap about, dart or jump.

   • […] I could no more travel the same Path, again and again, than I could have Patience to mount a managed Horse, in the Riding-House, and curvet it in the same Spot, for three Hours together.
   • […] the upright leaden spout, curveting its liquid filament into [the well], is merely a representation of what the gardener himself, if called upon, could do better and more abundantly.
3. 3

   To fly or swim with darting movements.

   • […] flights of small, low-flying brown doves chased one another to and fro, and bee-eaters, emerald-green, curvetted like slow swallows.
   • The west wind was the music, the motion, the force / To which the swans curveted, a will to change, / A will to make iris frettings on the blank.
   • Bank swallows are skimming above the stream, snatching insects, curvetting, rocketing up against the dying light.
4. ›+ 4 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      (of a person) To prance

      (of a person) To prance; to caper, frolic.

      • He curvetted back into the living-room […]
   2. 5

      (of an object) To jump, skip, shake.

      • The earth shook itself like an animal on whose back a predator has lodged. It spasmed, curvetted, tossed and writhed, to throw that malignity from its shoulders.
   3. 6

      A particular leap in which a horse raises both forelegs at once, equally advanced, and,…

      A particular leap in which a horse raises both forelegs at once, equally advanced, and, as the forelegs are falling, raises the hind legs, so that all the legs are in the air at once.

      • Complexion and constitution are alike revived by a drive in the Park—a white glove rests on the carriage window—and some 'gallant gray' or chestnut Arabian is curbed into curvets and foam by its whispering master.
   4. 7

      A prank

      A prank; a frolic.

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