GAMBOL (gambolled, gambolling)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: gambolled    , gambolling   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does gambol mean? 

• GAMBOL (noun)
  The noun GAMBOL has 1 sense:

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

  Familiarity information: GAMBOL used as a noun is very rare.

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

1. play boisterously

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

 Dictionary entry details 

• GAMBOL (noun)

Sense 1

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 ("gambol" is a kind of...):

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

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

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:

gambol (play boisterously)

• GAMBOL (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they gambol    ... he / she / it gambols   
Past simple: gamboled    / gambolled   
Past participle: gamboled    / gambolled   
-ing form: gamboling    / gambolling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Play boisterously

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

cavort; disport; frisk; frolic; gambol; lark; lark about; rollick; romp; run around; skylark; sport

Context example:

The toddlers romped in the playroom

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

play (be at play; be engaged in playful activity; amuse oneself in a way characteristic of children)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

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

 Context examples 

He never played and gambolled about with the other puppies of the camp.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Never did living pig gambol more lightly.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

From time to time the little ones played round their parents in unwieldy gambols, the great beasts bounding into the air and falling with dull thuds upon the earth.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I have just been telling you what I think, in order to explain why the elephantine gambols of Madame Tetralani spoil the orchestra for me.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I leaned back in the embrasure in a more comfortable position, so that I could enjoy more fully the aërial gambolling.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The air was dark with Davises, and many Joneses gamboled like a flock of young giraffes.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

And this is what I wished to have (laying his hand on my shoulder): this young girl, who stands so grave and quiet at the mouth of hell, looking collectedly at the gambols of a demon, I wanted her just as a change after that fierce ragout.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

They still piled the brushwood round the base of the tower, and gambolled hand in hand around the blaze, screaming out the doggerel lines which had long been the watchword of the Jacquerie.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

From behind him came the ripple of a happy woman's laughter, and two young urchins darted forth from the hut, bare-legged and towsy, while the mother, stepping out, laid her hand upon her husband's arm and watched the gambols of the children.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)