Frolic Definition

Contents

• 1 English
  • 1.1 Etymology
  • 1.2 Pronunciation
  • 1.3 Adjective
  • 1.4 Noun
    • 1.4.1 Translations
  • 1.5 Verb
    • 1.5.1 Derived terms
    • 1.5.2 Translations
    • 1.5.3 See also
  • 1.6 Related terms
  • 1.7 References

English

Etymology

From Dutch vrolijk (“cheerful”). Compare German fröhlich (“blitheful, gaily, happy, merry”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈfɹɒlɪk/, SAMPA: /"frQlIk/
• (US) IPA: /ˈfɹɑːlɪk/, SAMPA: /"frA:lIk/

• Audio (US)
  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒlɪk

Adjective

frolic (comparative more frolic, superlative most frolic)

1. (now rare) Merry, joyous; later especially, frolicsome, sportive, full of playful mischief.
   • 1897, Henry James, What Maisie Knew:

     Beale, under this frolic menace, took nothing back at all; he was indeed apparently on the point of repeating his extravagence, but Miss Overmore instructed her little charge that she was not to listen to his bad jokes [...].

2. (obsolete, rare) Free; liberal; bountiful; generous.

Noun

frolic (plural frolics)

1. Gaiety; merriment.
   • 1832-1888, Louisa May Alcott

     ...filled the souls of old and young with visions of splendor, frolic and fun.

2. A playful antic.

Verb

frolic (third-person singular simple present frolics, present participle frolicking, simple past and past participle frolicked)

1. (intransitive) To romp; to behave playfully and uninhibitedly.
2. (transitive, archaic) To cause to be merry.

Derived terms

• rollick

Translations

See also

• cavort

Related terms

• frolicsome

References

• Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition, 1989

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