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Curvet
Definitions
- 1 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."
- 2 a light leap by a horse in which both hind legs leave the ground before the forelegs come down wordnet
- 3 A prank; a frolic.
- 1 Of a horse or, by extension, another animal: to leap about, to frolic. intransitive
"Sometime he trots, as if he told the steps, / With gentle majesty and modest pride; / Anon he rears upright, curvets and leaps, / As who should say, 'Lo! thus my strength is tried; / And this I do to captivate the eye / Of the fair breeder that is standing by.'"
- 2 perform a leap where both hind legs come off the ground, of a horse wordnet
- 3 To cause to leap about, dart or jump. transitive
"[…] 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."
- 4 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."
- 5 (of a person) To prance; to caper, frolic. figuratively
"He curvetted back into the living-room […]"
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- 6 (of an object) To jump, skip, shake. figuratively
"[…] you must know that when the second iron is thrown overboard, it thenceforth becomes a dangling, sharp-edged terror, skittishly curvetting about both boat and whale, entangling the lines, or cutting them, and making a prodigious sensation in all directions."
Etymology
From Italian corvetta, diminutive of corva, an early form of curva (“curve”), from Latin curva, feminine of curvus (“bent, curved”).
From Italian corvetta, diminutive of corva, an early form of curva (“curve”), from Latin curva, feminine of curvus (“bent, curved”).
See also for "curvet"
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