▪ I. gambol, n.
(ˈgæmbəl)
Forms: α. 6 gambad, -baud(e, -bawd, 6 Sc., pl. gambatis, -bettis. (See also gamond.) β. 6 gambald(e, -bauld(e, gam(m)ald, gambold(e. γ. 6 gambal, -boile, 7 gambole, 7– gambol.
[a. F. gambade leap or spring. ad. It. gambata f. gamba leg (F. jambe).
The word appears first at the beginning of the 16th c. The ending -ade seems almost from the first to have been confused with the then more common -aud, -auld. Subsequently the d was dropped in gambald; cf. curtal from earlier curtald.]
† 1. The bound or curvet of a horse. Obs. rare. (Cf. gambade.)
| α 1503 in Leland Collect. (1770) IV. 281 The said Lord..maid his Devor at the Departynge, of Gambads and Lepps. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon lv. 187 Then he cam to kyng yuoryn with .xx. gambaudes. |
2. A leap or spring in dancing or sporting, a caper, frisk. Now chiefly
pl., of the sportive movements of children and animals.
| α 1513 Douglas æneis xiii. ix. 107 And gan do dowbill brangillis and gambatis (v.r. gambettis)..Athir throu other reland, on thair gys. c 1530 Ld. Berners Arth. Lyt. Bryt. (1814) 248 Than came forth juglers with theyr fals castes..and damoyselles wyth theyr gambawdes. 1575 Laneham Let. 24 Such feats of agilitiee, in..leaps, skips, springs, gambauds, soomersauts, caprettez & flyghts. |
| arch. 1831 Scott Ct. Rob. xvi, In this last gambaud the torch which he bore was extinguished. |
| β 1530 Palsgr. 548/2, I fetche a gambolde or a fryske in daunsyng, je fays vne gambade or vne frisque. Holde me a cappe, I wyll fetche a gambalde as hye as I may reache. 1580 Sidney Arcadia i. (1590) 72 Were full of such leaps and gambolds. 1583 Stanyhurst æneis iii. (Arb.) 79 Soom feloes naked With wrastling gambalds..for maystrye doe struggle. 1590 L. Lloyd Diall Daies i. 181 Such madde frisking, skipping and strange gamalds of daunsing. |
| fig. 1592 G. Harvey Pierce's Super. 15 To teach his mother-tongue such lusty gambolds. |
| γ c 1600 Day Begg. Bednall Gr. iv. i. (1881) 72 What Gamballs have ye here now? ha! 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. iv. iv. 335 A Dance, which the Wenches say is a gally-maufrey of Gambols. 1641 Brome Jovial Crew ii. Wks. 1873 III. 390 Let us hear and see something of your merry Grigs, that can sing, play Gambals, and do Feats. 1653 Urquhart Rabelais i. xxxv, He fetched a gambole upon one foot. 1782 Cowper Gilpin xxxiv, Thus all through merry Islington These gambols he did play. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. iii. vii, After a variety of awkward gambols. |
b. (See
quot. 1706.)
| 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Gambols, certain Sports or Tumbling Tricks in use about Christmas-time. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 269 ¶8 If they had not good Cheer, warm Fires, and Christmas Gambols to support them. |
c. transf. and
fig. in
pl. Frolicsome movements or proceedings. Rarely
sing., a frolic, merrymaking.
| 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. iii. i. 93 Those crisped snakie golden locks Which makes such wanton gambols with the winde. 1741 Richardson Pamela (1824) I. 59, I am but a silly poor girl, set up by the gambol of fortune for a May-game. 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1852) I. 592 The flighty gambols of chance are objects of no science, nor grounds of any dependence whatever. 1807–8 W. Irving Salmag. (1824) 89 The eccentric gambols of the famous comet. 1824 ― T. Trav. I. 65 There was a gambol carrying on within, enough to have astonished St. Anthony himself. 1878 M. A. Brown Nadeschda 14 From wanton gambols taking rest In a bed of flowers lay the brook. |
† 3. A toy, plaything.
Obs.| 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 309 b, To hang pelting gamboldes upon them [Saints' Images], made of waxe, wood, ledd, or other metall. 1630 J. Taylor (Water P.) Vertue Tayle Wks. ii. 133/1 A pretty gamball, cal'd a Swing. |
† 4. attrib. (quasi-adj.) Sportive, playful.
Obs.| 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, ii. iv. 273 Such other Gamboll faculties hee hath, that shew a weake minde, and an able Body. 1622 Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d'Alf. i. 132 Other were full of their gamboll-tricks, each man having his severall Posture. 1664 H. More Myst. Iniq. 447 It look'd alwaies to me so like a gambal trick, that I could not but place it among the earlier Legends or pious Fictions of the Church. |
▪ II. gambol, v. (
ˈgæmbəl)
Inflected
gambolled (
-bəld),
gambolling (
U.S. often with single
l). Forms: α. 6
gambade,
gambaud,
gambawd. β. 6
gambaulde. γ. 6
gambole, 7–
gamboll,
gambol.
[ad. F. gambader; cf. the n.] † 1. intr. Of a horse: To bound or curvet.
rare.
| 1507 Justes May & June 113 in Hazl. E.P.P. II. 117 On horses gambawdynge wonderously That it semed..That they wolde have hanged styll in the skye. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon lv. 187 When the horse felte the sporres he began to lepe & gambaud & galop as it had ben the thonder. |
2. To leap or spring, in dancing or sporting; now chiefly of animals or children.
| 1508 Fisher 7 Penit. Ps. cii. Wks. (1876) 156 Redy at all tymes..to daunce, to gambade, to lepe and to synge. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. iii. i. 168 Be kinde and curteous to this Gentleman, Hop in his walkes, and gambole in his eies. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 345 Bears, Tygers, Ounces, Pards Gambold before them. c 1705 Pope Jan. & May 462 Their pigmy king, and little fairy queen, In circling dances gamboll'd on the green. 1792 Munchausen's Trav. xxiv. 104 The noble sphinx gamboling like a huge leviathan. 1841 Lytton Nt. & Morn. i. i, The urchins gambolled round the grave-stones on the Sabbath. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. xxx, At our old pastimes in the hall We gambol'd, making vain pretence Of gladness. |
3. transf. and
fig.| 1602 Shakes. Ham. iii. iv. 144, I the matter will re-word; which madnesse Would gamboll from. 1796 Burke Regic. Peace iii. Wks. VIII. 418 A nation, gamboling in an ocean of superfluity. 1824 Scott Fam. Lett. 4 Apr. (1894) II. 199, I have gambolled a little in the entrance hall, which I knew was not in very good taste when I did it. 1856 R. A. Vaughan Mystics (1860) I. 248 Our little world has been gambolling like children let loose from school. 1890 Talmage From Manger to Throne 107 The current is greatly accelerated and then goes gamboling into Lake Gennesaret. |
| quasi-trans. 1649 G. Daniel Trinarch., Rich. II, cccxliv, The Pye but chatters to a Country Cure, And gambolls w{supt}{suph} the Sparrowes in a Bush, Rude Rhetoricke. |