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scamper

 - 7 dictionary results

scamp⋅er

  [skam-per]
Use scamper in a Sentence
–verb (used without object)
1. to run or go hastily or quickly.
2. to run playfully about, as a child.
–noun
3. a scampering; a quick run.
Origin:
1680–90; obs. scamp to go (see scamp ) + -er 6

scamp

  [skamp]
–noun
1. an unscrupulous and often mischievous person; rascal; rogue; scalawag.
2. a playful, mischievous, or naughty young person; upstart.
3. a grouper, Mycteroperca phenax, of Florida: so called from its habit of stealing bait.
–verb (used with object)
4. to do or perform in a hasty or careless manner: to scamp work.
Origin:
1775–85; obs. scamp to travel about idly or for mischief, perh. < obs. D schampen to be gone < OF escamper to decamp

Related forms:
scamper, noun
scamp⋅ing⋅ly, adverb
scampish, adjective
scamp⋅ish⋅ly, adverb
scamp⋅ish⋅ness, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To scamper
scamp 2   (skāmp)   
tr.v.   scamped, scamp·ing, scamps
To perform in a careless superficial way.

[Possibly of Scandinavian origin.]
scamp'er n.
scam·per   (skām'pər)   
intr.v.   scam·pered, scam·per·ing, scam·pers
To run or go quickly and lightly: children scampering off to play.
n.  A quick light run or movement.

[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.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary
scamp [skæmp]

  1. n.
    a small child. : There are three little scamps at the door saying, “Trick or treat!”
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History

scamp  (n.)
1782, "highway robber," probably from dialectal verb scamp "to roam" (1753), shortened from scamper. Used affectionately in sense "rascal" since 1808.

scamper 
"to run quickly," 1687, probably from Flem. schampeeren, frequentative of schampen "run away," from O.N.Fr. escamper (O.Fr. eschamper) "to run away, flee," from V.L. *excampare "decamp," lit. "leave the field," from L. ex campo, from ex "out of" + campo, ablative of campus "field" (see campus). A vogue word late 17c.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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