frolic

English
WOTD – 2 October 2007

Alternative forms

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
  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈfɹɒlɪk/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈfɹɑːlɪk/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Audio (AU)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɒlɪk

Adjective

frolic (comparative more frolic, superlative most frolic)

  1. (now rare) Merry, joyous, full of mirth; later especially, frolicsome, sportive, full of playful mischief. [from 1530s]
    • 1645, John Milton, “L’Allegro” in Poems, London: Humphrey Moseley, p. 31,
      The frolick wind that breathes the Spring,
      Zephyr with Aurora playing,
      As he met her once a Maying
      There on Beds of Violets blew,
    • 1682, Edmund Waller, “Of Love” in Poems, &c. written upon several occasions, and to several persons, London: H. Herringman, 5th edition, 1686, p. 73,
      For women, born to be controul’d,
      Stoop to the forward and the bold,
      Affect the haughty and the proud,
      The gay, the frollick, and the loud.
    • 1766, Joseph Addison, The Spectator - Volume 5 - Page 304:
      You meet him at the tables and conversations of the wise, the impertinent, the grave, the frolic, and the witty; [...]
    • 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.

Verb

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

  1. (intransitive) To make merry; to have fun; to romp; to behave playfully and uninhibitedly. [from 1580s]
    • We saw the lambs frolicking in the meadow.
  2. (transitive, archaic) To cause to be merry.

Inflection
conjugation of frolic
infinitive frolic
present participle frolicking
past participle frolicked
simple progressive perfect perfect progressive
present I frolic we frolic I am frolicking we are frolicking I have frolicked we have frolicked I have been frolicking we have been frolicking
you frolic you frolic you are frolicking you are frolicking you have frolicked you have frolicked you have been frolicking you have been frolicking
he frolics they frolic he is frolicking they are frolicking he has frolicked they have frolicked he has been frolicking they have been frolicking
past I frolicked we frolicked I was frolicking we were frolicking I had frolicked we had frolicked I had been frolicking we had been frolicking
you frolicked you frolicked you were frolicking you were frolicking you had frolicked you had frolicked you had been frolicking you had been frolicking
he frolicked they frolicked he was frolicking they were frolicking he had frolicked they had frolicked he had been frolicking they had been frolicking
future I will frolic we will frolic I will be frolicking we will be frolicking I will have frolicked we will have frolicked I will have been frolicking we will have been frolicking
you will frolic you will frolic you will be frolicking you will be frolicking you will have frolicked you will have frolicked you will have been frolicking you will have been frolicking
he will frolic they will frolic he will be frolicking they will be frolicking he will have frolicked they will have frolicked he will have been frolicking they will have been frolicking
conditional I would frolic we would frolic I would be frolicking we would be frolicking I would have frolicked we would have frolicked I would have been frolicking we would have been frolicking
you would frolic you would frolic you would be frolicking you would be frolicking you would have frolicked you would have frolicked you would have been frolicking you would have been frolicking
he would frolic they would frolic he would be frolicking they would be frolicking he would have frolicked they would have frolicked he would have been frolicking they would have been frolicking
imperative frolic

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

frolic (plural frolics)

  1. Gaiety; merriment. [from 1610s]
    • 1832-1888, Louisa May Alcott
      the annual jubilee […] filled the souls of old and young with visions of splendour, frolic and fun.
    • 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.
  2. A playful antic.
    • Roscommon
      He would be at his frolic once again.

Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

See also

References
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.