CAPER • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Caper

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/kˈeɪpər/ Listen

noun

Caper n. A frolicsome leap or spring; a skip; a jump, as in mirth or dancing; a prank.

To cut a caper, to frolic; to make a sportive spring; to play a prank.

Caper n. A vessel formerly used by the Dutch, privateer.

Caper n.

The pungent grayish green flower bud of the European and Oriental caper (Capparis spinosa), much used for pickles.

(Bot.) A plant of the genus Capparis; called also caper bush, caper tree. Note: The Capparis spinosa is a low prickly shrub of the Mediterranean coasts, with trailing branches and brilliant flowers; cultivated in the south of Europe for its buds. The Capparis sodada is an almost leafless spiny shrub of central Africa (Soudan), Arabia, and southern India, with edible berries.

Bean caper. See Bran caper, in the Vocabulary.

Caper sauce, a kind of sauce or catchup made of capers.

verb

Caper v. i. (past & past part. capered; pres. part. capering) To leap or jump about in a sprightly manner; to cut capers; to skip; to spring; to prance; to dance. "He capers, he dances, he has eyes of youth."

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Etymology of 'Caper'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Caper" Quotes from Famous Books

... dropping a stick upon the pan, afterwards removing the suspended bait to enjoy it at his leisure. His movements are as lithe and subtile as those of a snake, and when "cornered" there is no telling what caper that cunning instinct and subtlety of body will not lead him to perform. When pursued by hounds he has been known to lead them a long chase at full speed up to the crest of a hill: here he leaps a shrub, swiftly as an arrow, and landing on the ...

— Camp Life in the Woods and the Tricks of Trapping and Trap Making • William Hamilton Gibson

... misery, poverty, sorrowing; While we've a fiddle we gayly will dance; Supper we've none, nor can we go borrowing; Dance and forget is the fashion of France. Long live gay jollity! 'Tis a good quality— Caper all, sing all, and laugh ...

— Harper's Young People, May 18, 1880 - An Illustrated Weekly • Various

... me out of my wits," said Miss Harrison. "I have been jumping out of the saddle half the time, since I came out. Sometimes he'll go very quietly—as nice as anybody—and then he'll play such a caper as he did then. That was just because Julius came up alongside of him. He had been going beautifully this last mile. I wish he'd have nothing to do with such ...

— Say and Seal, Volume I • Susan Warner

... to the avenue, there presently issued forth a goodly flourish of trumpets, which made the women caper and the horses prance. Sir Richard Hoghton rode with the king; but his son Sir Gilbert met his Majesty with a great retinue, clad mostly after the same fashion; many of the neighbouring gentry, as we have before observed, not disdaining to put on Sir Richard's gowns ...

— Traditions of Lancashire, Volume 1 (of 2) • John Roby

... exploded. "And who the devil cares about that?" "I daresay no one," I began . . . "And what the devil is he—anyhow—for to go on like this?" He stuffed suddenly his left whisker into his mouth and stood amazed. "Jee!" he exclaimed, "I told him the earth wouldn't be big enough to hold his caper."' ...

— Lord Jim • Joseph Conrad

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