Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To roam about in search of pleasure or amusement. See Synonyms at wander.
- v. To play around amorously; flirt.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To gad about; spend time frivolously or in pleasure-seeking, especially with the opposite sex.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To play the beau; to wait upon the ladies; also, to roam about for pleasure without any definite plan.
WordNet 3.0
- v. wander aimlessly in search of pleasure
Etymologies
- Perhaps alteration of gallant.
Examples
“And while trying to prove a pointwhich you didn't you shoud use proper grammer, you spell it "gallivant" .”
Kevin's Review: Twilight - Do You Care That It's Bad? « FirstShowing.net
“Helen writes from Athens, a propos the prospect of looking after her father for a couple of days next summer while I gallivant about: No prob at all.”
“Based on realistic notions of human behavior, it seems odd for Justice Scalia to gallivant off to this conference.”
“The KeepALL does not discriminate: boys and girls alike can be glad to gallivant about with their their life in their Maxi Purse!”
The Huffington Post: Beth Arnold: Letter From Paris Presents: Paris Fashion Report
“Having arrived on a sunny day prior to my scheduled conference, I decided to gallivant around Zurich, first by tram, then on foot.”
The Huffington Post: Magda Abu-Fadil: "Bezaubern" Zurich on a Short Business Trip
“Only not exactly gallivant, more like gadabout, playing an international game of tag with an imaginary, relentless and inexhaustible "it.”
The Huffington Post: Omer Rosen: From Point A To Point A By Way Of Point A
“Of course, we are well into summer now, but, if you are lucky, you might still soon be off to gallivant around the globe.”
The Huffington Post: Omer Rosen: From Point A To Point A By Way Of Point A
“Must be nice to have so much free time to gallivant across the country!”
“Gillian Tett makes her Tett Offensive, reminding people that it actually cost a lot of money to gallivant around Iraq, creating power vacuums in Mesopotamia.”
“ I said back to her "It's that hunter/gatherer thing where the men leave the women behind to do anything that resembles work while they gallivant all over the countryside looking for some food to kill!”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘gallivant’.
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Ayatollah's list
Trinkets of lexical goodness.
floccinaucinihili..., quomodocunquize, curmudgeon, illaqueate, ipsissimosity, heterochthonous, hakenkreuz, forisfamiliate, appropinquate, apodyopsis, baryphony, cachinnate and 146 more...
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Perambulatory
let's move
dawdle, hie, lollop, promenade, stroll, amble, mosey, gallivant, waddle, galumph, traipse, galumph and 3 more...
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2
kerniving, scandinavia, confectionary, mangrove, bejewelled, flesh, crystalline, gazelle, pantaloons, bluebird, caribou, albatross and 88 more...
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Jay Duke's list
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