frolic

== English == === Alternative forms === frolick === Etymology === From Dutch vrolijk (“cheerful”), from Middle Dutch vrolijc, from Old Dutch frōlīk, from Proto-Germanic *frawalīkaz. Compare German fröhlich (“blitheful, gaily, happy, merry”). The first element, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *frawaz, is cognate with Middle English frow (“hasty”); the latter element, ultimately from *-līkaz, is cognate with -ly, -like. === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈfɹɒlɪk/ (General American) IPA(key): /ˈfɹɑlɪk/ Rhymes: -ɒlɪk Hyphenation: frol‧ic === Adjective === frolic (comparative more frolic, superlative most frolic) (now rare) Merry, joyous, full of mirth; later especially, frolicsome, sportive, full of playful mischief. [from 1530s] (obsolete, rare) Free; liberal; bountiful; generous. === Verb === frolic (third-person singular simple present frolics, present participle frolicking, simple past and past participle frolicked) (intransitive) To make merry; to have fun; to romp; to behave playfully and uninhibitedly. [from 1580s] (transitive, archaic) To cause to be merry. ==== Derived terms ==== rollick ==== Translations ==== === Noun === frolic (plural frolics) Gaiety; merriment. [from 1610s] 2012 (original 1860), Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Marble Faun - Page 276: By the old-fashioned magnificence of this procession, it might worthily have included his Holiness in person, with a suite of attendant Cardinals, if those sacred dignitaries would kindly have lent their aid to heighten the frolic of the Carnival. A playful antic. (obsolete, chiefly US) A social gathering. ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Translations ==== ==== See also ==== cavort === References === John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “frolic”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.