sportive

• “It originated in sportive conversation at poor Lovell's, and we agreed each to produce an act by the next evening; – S.T.C. the first, I the second, and Lovell the third.”

  Introduction

• “It takes its name from the frolicsome spirit supposed to be imparted by it to its imbibers, whose gambols remind the observant Teuton of those of the bock, or goat, a figure of which animal, engaged in sportive dalliance with a beer cask, is usually to be seen as a sign in places where this brewage is on tap.”

  Lager Beer in New York

• “It originated in sportive conversation at poor Lovell's, and we agreed each to produce an act by the next evening; — S.T.C. the first, I the second, and Lovell the third.”

  Coleridge & Southey Letters

• “In sentimental conversation, subjects interesting to the heart, and to the imagination, are brought forward; they are discussed in a kind of sportive way, with animation and refinement, and are never continued longer than politeness allows.”

  A Sicilian Romance

• “Abbey of Thélème, -- a kind of sportive Brook Farm set far away in a world unrealized.”

  Classic French Course in English

• “Examples of this kind of sportive irreverence are common enough; their root is in human nature: and they could not be absent in the mythology of savage or of ancient peoples.”

  The Homeric Hymns A New Prose Translation; and Essays, Literary and Mythological

• “William was a kind-hearted, "sportive" man, who took _Bell's Life_, and I can remember that there was a good supply of English reading in the house.”

  Memoirs

• “She had left a snuff-box of considerable value with me, which I had forgotten to return; and, with that kind of sportive cheerfulness which I rather encourage than repress, I called -- 'Here!”

  Anna St. Ives

• “Just outside the mountain town of Vicdessos, the "Station Sports Nature de Montcalm" offers guided circuits graded in difficulty and suitable for children from seven years old (montcalm-aventure. com), though the Ariège's wildest Via Ferrata, described as "sportive" requires a four-hour trek up to the Refuge d'Estagnous (ariege. com / refuge-estagnous).”

  The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed

• “sportive"; but it is singular that she should be spoken of as "well featured, but wanton.”

  The Story of Pocahontas

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