Frolic
adj, noun, verb ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 Gaiety; merriment.
"the annual jubilee […] filled the souls of old and young with visions of splendour, frolic and fun."
- 2 gay or light-hearted recreational activity for diversion or amusement wordnet
- 3 A playful antic.
"He would be at his frolic once again."
- 4 A social gathering. US, obsolete
"He came clattering up to the school door with an invitation to Ichabod to attend a merry-making or “quilting frolic,” to be held that evening at Mynheer Van Tassel’s"
- 1 To make merry; to have fun; to romp; to behave playfully and uninhibitedly. intransitive
"We saw the lambs frolicking in the meadow."
- 2 play boisterously wordnet
- 3 To cause to be merry. archaic, transitive
- 1 Merry, joyous, full of mirth; later especially, frolicsome, sportive, full of playful mischief. archaic
"The frolick wind that breathes the Spring, Zephyr with Aurora playing, As he met her once a Maying There on Beds of Violets blew,"
- 2 Free; liberal; bountiful; generous. obsolete, rare
Example
More examples"I want to go for a frolic in the rain."
Etymology
From Dutch vrolijk (“cheerful”), from Middle Dutch vrolijc, from Old Dutch frōlīk, from Proto-Germanic *frawalīkaz. Compare German fröhlich (“blitheful, gaily, happy, merry”). The first element, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *frawaz, is cognate with Middle English frow (“hasty”); the latter element, ultimately from *-līkaz, is cognate with -ly, -like.
Related phrases
More for "frolic"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.