CAPER

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does caper mean? 

• CAPER (noun)
  The noun CAPER has 6 senses:

1. any of numerous plants of the genus Capparis

2. pickled flower buds used as a pungent relish in various dishes and sauces

3. a crime (especially a robbery)

4. a playful leap or hop

5. gay or light-hearted recreational activity for diversion or amusement

6. a ludicrous or grotesque act done for fun and amusement

  Familiarity information: CAPER used as a noun is common.

• CAPER (verb)
  The verb CAPER has 1 sense:

1. jump about playfully

  Familiarity information: CAPER used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CAPER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any of numerous plants of the genus Capparis

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Hypernyms ("caper" is a kind of...):

bush; shrub (a low woody perennial plant usually having several major stems)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "caper"):

Capparis arborea; native pomegranate (small Australian tree bearing edible fruit resembling the pomegranate)

caper tree; Capparis cynophallophora; Jamaica caper tree (shrub of southern Florida to West Indies)

bay-leaved caper; caper tree; Capparis flexuosa (shrub or small tree of southern Florida to Central and South America)

Capparis mitchellii; native orange (small Australian tree bearing edible dark purple fruit)

Capparis spinosa; common caper (prostrate spiny shrub of the Mediterranean region cultivated for its greenish flower buds which are pickled)

Holonyms ("caper" is a member of...):

Capparis; genus Capparis (tropical or subtropical evergreen shrubs or small trees)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Pickled flower buds used as a pungent relish in various dishes and sauces

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Hypernyms ("caper" is a kind of...):

pickle (vegetables (especially cucumbers) preserved in brine or vinegar)

Holonyms ("caper" is a part of...):

Capparis spinosa; common caper (prostrate spiny shrub of the Mediterranean region cultivated for its greenish flower buds which are pickled)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A crime (especially a robbery)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

caper; job

Context example:

the gang pulled off a bank job in St. Louis

Hypernyms ("caper" is a kind of...):

robbery (larceny by threat of violence)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A playful leap or hop

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

caper; capriole

Hypernyms ("caper" is a kind of...):

bounce; bound; leap; leaping; saltation; spring (a light, self-propelled movement upwards or forwards)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Gay or light-hearted recreational activity for diversion or amusement

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

caper; frolic; gambol; play; romp

Context example:

their frolic in the surf threatened to become ugly

Hypernyms ("caper" is a kind of...):

diversion; recreation (an activity that diverts or amuses or stimulates)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "caper"):

coquetry; dalliance; flirt; flirtation; flirting; toying (playful behavior intended to arouse sexual interest)

craziness; folly; foolery; indulgence; lunacy; tomfoolery (foolish or senseless behavior)

game (frivolous or trifling behavior)

horseplay (rowdy or boisterous play)

teasing (playful vexation)

word play (playing on words or speech sounds)

Derivation:

caper (jump about playfully)

Sense 6

Meaning:

A ludicrous or grotesque act done for fun and amusement

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

antic; caper; joke; prank; put-on; trick

Hypernyms ("caper" is a kind of...):

diversion; recreation (an activity that diverts or amuses or stimulates)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "caper"):

dirty trick (an unkind or aggressive trick)

practical joke (a prank or trick played on a person (especially one intended to make the victim appear foolish))

• CAPER (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they caper    ... he / she / it capers   
Past simple: capered   
Past participle: capered   
-ing form: capering   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Jump about playfully

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "caper" is one way to...):

bound; jump; leap; spring (move forward by leaps and bounds)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

caper (gay or light-hearted recreational activity for diversion or amusement)

 Context examples 

There was something wrong about it, and he resolved not to caper about and play the fool.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Flimnap, the treasurer, is allowed to cut a caper on the straight rope, at least an inch higher than any other lord in the whole empire.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

But the countryman seized his fiddle, and struck up a tune, and at the first note judge, clerks, and jailer were in motion; all began capering, and no one could hold the miser.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

At least we ate as much of it as was done, and made up with capers.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I feel as if I could be anything or everything; as if I could rant and storm, or sigh or cut capers, in any tragedy or comedy in the English language.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

I like to fly about and cut capers.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Blackmail, I suppose; an honest man paying through the nose for some of the capers of his youth.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Everything being then arranged, the servant who stood at the horse's head was bid in an important voice to let him go, and off they went in the quietest manner imaginable, without a plunge or a caper, or anything like one.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

The little Gardiners, attracted by the sight of a chaise, were standing on the steps of the house as they entered the paddock; and, when the carriage drove up to the door, the joyful surprise that lighted up their faces, and displayed itself over their whole bodies, in a variety of capers and frisks, was the first pleasing earnest of their welcome.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

After all that had passed, suffering intolerable anguish in my finger-ends, and with three boats missing, to say nothing of the wild capers the Ghost was cutting, I should have thought it impossible to sleep.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)