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  1. gallivant love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. v. To roam about in search of pleasure or amusement. See Synonyms at wander.
  2. v. To play around amorously; flirt.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. To gad about; spend time frivolously or in pleasure-seeking, especially with the opposite sex.

Wiktionary

  1. v. intransitive To roam about for pleasure without any definite plan.
  2. v. intransitive, obsolete To flirt, to romance.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. v. Slang To play the beau; to wait upon the ladies; also, to roam about for pleasure without any definite plan.

WordNet 3.0

  1. v. wander aimlessly in search of pleasure

Etymologies

  1. 1809, from gallant ("wooing women"), originally in sense “to flirt”, broadened to mean “roaming without plan”. (Wiktionary)
  2. Perhaps alteration of gallant. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

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hypernyms (12)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. wander
  2. vagabond
  1. roam
  2. range
  1. drift
  2. stray
  1. ramble
  2. roll
  1. cast
  2. swan
  1. rove
  2. tramp

reverse dictionary (1)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. galavant

tags (2)

Free-form, user-generated categorization

  1. walking
  1. wander

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Comments

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  • Cold_Volition Interesting word, it makes me think of horses galloping for some reason...
    Feb 8, 2013

  • reesetee You probably were. You'd better start apologizing now, and beat the rush. Nov 13, 2007

  • yarb You see I always assumed it did. Now I realise I could have been gallivanting all over the place, entirely oblivious. Nov 13, 2007

  • reesetee I didn't realize that gallivanting required flapping of arms and heavy imbibing. ;-) Nov 13, 2007

  • yarb No! I'm home. I don't think I gallivanted there or back. I mean my arms stayed mostly by my sides and I didn't drink any more than usual. Nov 13, 2007

  • chained_bear Wait... yarb? Are you still in Peru? How did you get there, if you didn't gallivant? Nov 12, 2007

  • yarb I regret that my gallivanting days are mostly behind me. At least my vanting is less galli than it used to be. Nov 12, 2007

  • mollusque My family gallivants all the time. It's one of our favorite words and activities. If we call my parents and no one answers, we say they're out gallivanting: out on some local expedition for fun. Nov 11, 2007

  • reesetee I like to gallivant. Nov 11, 2007

  • chained_bear When I hear it used seriously nowadays, it's with a pejorative connotation--e.g. "We're here working our asses off, and you're out gallivanting around!"

    But I do hear it occasionally. Whether people today are gallivanting in the true spirit of "gallivant," though, is open to debate. Nov 11, 2007

  • sonofgroucho Does seem a word from a bygone age. Do you think people still do much gallivanting? Nov 11, 2007

  • ulleskelf A word of my childhood. If we were going out for the day, we'd be off gallivanting, or as my mum used to say "going there and back to see how far it is." Oct 12, 2007

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‘gallivant’ has been looked up 3028 times, loved by 10 people, added to 69 lists, commented on 12 times, and has a Scrabble score of 13.