scamper

English

WOTD – 22 January 2007

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈskæmpə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈskæmpɚ/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æmpə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: scamp‧er

Etymology 1

First attested in 1687. Origin uncertain, but possibly from Dutch schamperen, from Old French escamper, from Vulgar Latin *excampāre.

Noun

scamper (plural scampers)

1. A quick, light run.

Verb

scamper (third-person singular simple present scampers, present participle scampering, simple past and past participle scampered)

1. (intransitive) To run lightly and quickly, especially in a playful or undignified manner.

   Synonyms: scurry; see also Thesaurus:walk

   The dog scampered after the squirrel.

   • 1791 (first performance), [Frederic] Reynolds, Notoriety: A Comedy, Dublin: […] P. Byrne, […], published 1792, →OCLC, Act IV, scene [i], page 43:

     [W]hy if you don't ſcamper, you'll be baſtil'd, before you can ſay, "Killarney."

   • 1912 October, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Tarzan of the Apes”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as chapter 1, in Tarzan of the Apes, New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company, 1914 June, →OCLC:

     The younger and lighter members of his tribe scampered to the higher branches of the great trees to escape his wrath; risking their lives upon branches that scarce supported their weight rather than face old Kerchak in one of his fits of uncontrolled anger.

   • 2017 June 3, Daniel Taylor, “Real Madrid win Champions League as Cristiano Ronaldo double defeats Juv”, in The Guardian (London)‎^[1]:

     Three minutes later, Luka Modric scampered down the right, clipped a cross to the near post and Ronaldo’s clipped finish gave the remainder of the match an air of inevitability.

Translations

to run lightly and quickly, especially in a playful manner or in an undignified manner

• Bikol Central: rabas (bcl)
• Bulgarian: лудувам (bg) (luduvam), тичам (bg) (tičam)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: please add this translation if you can

  Mandarin: 跑來跑去 / 跑来跑去 (pǎoláipǎoqù)

• Czech: běžet (cs) impf, cupitat impf, pelášit (cs) impf
• Dutch: 'm smeren
• Esperanto: petoli (eo)
• French: gambader (fr)
• Galician: acarreirar (gl), buligar
• Irish: scinn, sciurd
• Korean: 빨리 달리다 (ppalli dallida)
• Macedonian: се стр́ча (se stŕča), се вту́рна (se vtúrna)
• Maori: karapetapeta
• Polish: pędzić (pl)
• Russian: бе́гать (ru) (bégatʹ), носиться (ru) (nositʹsja)
• Spanish: apresurar (es), corretear (es)

Etymology 2

From scamp +‎ -er.

Noun

scamper (plural scampers)

1. One who skimps or does slipshod work.

   Synonym: skimper

Anagrams

• Campers, campers