Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To run or go quickly and lightly: children scampering off to play.
- n. A quick light run or movement.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. One who scamps work.
- To run with speed; hasten away.
- n. A hasty run or flight.
Wiktionary
- n. A quick, light run.
- v. intransitive To run quickly and lightly, especially in a playful manner or in an undignified manner.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To run with speed; to run or move in a quick, hurried manner; to hasten away.
- n. A scampering; a hasty flight.
WordNet 3.0
- n. rushing about hastily in an undignified way
- v. to move about or proceed hurriedly
Etymologies
- First attested in 1687. Origin uncertain, but possibly from Dutch schamperen, from Old French escamper, from Italian scampare ("to run away"). (Wiktionary)
- Probably from Flemish schampeeren, frequentative of obsolete Dutch schampen, to run away, decamp, from Middle Dutch ontscampen, from Old French escamper, from Old Italian scampare, from Vulgar Latin *excampāre, from Latin ex campō, out of the field : ex, away; see ex- + campō, ablative of campus, field. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“I've enjoyed watching this game of blog tag scamper about some of my favorite blog writers.”
“Thanks!!! bill dance fishing flygate chironomid cheap vanagon transporteur treasure hunter karman ghia teenie two carravelle autosleeper hausman crooked tongues running shoes lance agreement xp2400 king size alpha tag scamper financial centre - 2006-08-20 13: 56: 35”
“He swiveled aside to let a stream of half-naked boys and girls playing some spontaneously generated variant of tag scamper past.”
“Bran, [423] poor fellow, lies yawning at my feet, and cannot think what is become of the daily scamper, which is all his master's inability affords him.”
The Journal of Sir Walter Scott From the Original Manuscript at Abbotsford
“MALVEAUX: And then the mice that used to, like, kind of scamper a bit.”
“MALVEAUX: That used to, like, kind of scamper a bit.”
“Which means he has to do a little bit better than "scamper" around the perimeter.”
“There's no reason why a Roman barracks should have been any different from an 18th-century European one, with entire families crammed into the neat rooms, with bunks curtained off, and the young couple in the corner on the top bunk making babies while the woman in the bottom bunk is giving birth to her fourth, and the children scamper under foot, or making themselves useful polishing kit.”
“I say the Serenity Prayer every day with my kids before they scamper in to the schoolhouse. datingjesus”
“Robinson's scamper from acting half raised hopes of a fightback, but they were quickly dashed by the officials.”
The Guardian: England out of Four Nations after conclusive defeat by Australia
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘scamper’.
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movement (fast)
words describing fast action or movement
( open list, randomness, descriptive )
related:
http://www.wordnik.com...hurry, run, scamper, skip, stride, stampede, trample, scramble, dart, spring, spin, sprint and 141 more...
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I am : moving
Words to describe gait and movement.
walk, run, trot, jog, canter, gallop, skip, crawl, slink, slither, amble, trundle and 69 more...
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Camp
I'll bring the bug spray and the waterproof matches.
camp, camping, camper, campylobacter, Jane Campion, campy, campesino, Camp David, campfire, camptown, scamp, Hello Muddah, Hel... and 88 more...
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Favorites
disparage, partisan, cupidity, hokum, tussle, odious, dastardly, overture, plane, chronic, peering, peer and 328 more...
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strangelyrouge's Words
glockenspiel, gewgaw, jetsam, flotsam, gripe, grab, wench, whilst, betwixt, hither, thither, yonder and 1034 more...
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SoSheShall's list
slurp, coeur, slurple, glop, perp, fluarxx, ropechno, herrherr, burrduhherrherr, sloppy, cheezie balls, eccentric and 634 more...
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Twitchy
The (not always so) smoovements; scattered, oscillating, jerky, and unpredictable.
palpitation, scravel, jactitate, pounce, wobble, vibrate, undulate, didder, effleurage, flail, ague, swerve and 169 more...
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Wordwild's Delights
Delightful words to read and use
plangent, ribald, titubant, sidereal, pelagic, improvident, dolorous, parlous, baleful, precatory, pied, mephitic and 247 more...
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NakedFringe's Words
masticate, chamber, orchid, mandolin, yellow, pomegranate, conundrum, paradox, gyrate, calamitous, opalescent, cacophony and 533 more...
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Winter's Bone vocabulary
Study list of difficult words from Daniel Woodrell's novel Winter's Bone. In reverse order: start at the bottom to see words from the beginning of the novel!
plaid, lazy susan, lope, furtive, dour, scamper, hard-boiled, implacable, dainty, stomp, resignation, crank and 138 more...
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my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
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Wrapped up in books
I'm reading books. And there are words and phrases I come upon for the first time, or that are used with usages that are new to me.
So, this is just a plain list of those words. Don't expect ...hobble, mackerel, crone, cavort, hoyden, rheumy, scatter, hiss, recoil, trundle, shatter, flaxen and 200 more...
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do the locomotion
Ways of walking, running, skipping, etc. Not included: assisted locomotion (riding, driving, boating). These verbs should more or less fit the paradigm: She _______ (her way) into/out of/through/ar...
stagger, stumble, dart, dash, run, walk, mince, sashay, strut, stride, move, go and 108 more...
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Words Words and more Words
ruckus, bustle, ominous, odious, abominable, atrocious, appal, abysmal, dismal, calamity, debacle, fiasco and 231 more...
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Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Words from 2009 'Inglourious Basterds' film.
guise, testify, trepidation, moniker, bestow, buffling, cunning, scamper, animosity, rodent, repulsive, dignity and 74 more...
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ethernight's Words
profundity, cacophony, askance, abysmal, nefarious, specious, creature, spurious, vitriol, crisp, racketeering, dystopian and 10 more...
Tweets
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