Library / English Dictionary

CAPER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A ludicrous or grotesque act done for fun and amusement

Synonyms:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

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))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Gay or light-hearted recreational activity for diversion or amusement

Example:

their frolic in the surf threatened to become ugly

Synonyms:

caper; frolic; gambol; play; romp

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

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 3

Meaning:

A playful leap or hop

Synonyms:

caper; capriole

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

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

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

Sense 4

Meaning:

A crime (especially a robbery)

Example:

the gang pulled off a bank job in St. Louis

Synonyms:

caper; job

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

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

robbery (larceny by threat of violence)

Sense 5

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 6

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)

 II. (verb) 

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)

Credits

 Context examples: 

For herself, she did nothing but caper about in the front chambers, jump on and off the bedsteads, and lie on the mattresses and piled-up bolsters and pillows before the enormous fires roaring in the chimneys.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Jip would bark and caper round us, and go on before, and look back on the landing, breathing short, to see that we were coming.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Then they dressed themselves in the twinkling of an eye, and danced and capered and sprang about, as merry as could be; till at last they danced out at the door, and away over the green.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

The miser crept into the bush to find it; but directly he had got into the middle, his companion took up his fiddle and played away, and the miser began to dance and spring about, capering higher and higher in the air.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)