_romp_
Verb.
Pronunciation: rɒmp.
It is dated from
the beginning of 1700.
Etymology: of uncertain
origin. It is conjectured that it may be either a modification of the verb RAMP (= to behave with violent gestures), or
one of the obsolete noun ramp (= an
ill-behaved woman).
Third-person singular simple present:
she/he romps.
Preterite tense, preterite
participle: romped.
Present
participle: romping.
Intransitively: 1. To behave boisterously frolic, while being in company with someone else; this
is,
to manifest a romping mood, while being accompanied.
Synthetic antonym: to behave seriously.
Synonyms: to
frolic merrily; to play frolicsomely; to sport boisterously, frisk, rollick,
disport, disport oneself.
Translation: chahuter, in French; chacotear, in Spanish; sbaccanare, in Italian.
I
recollect, when we used to romp, and quarrel, and kiss; then,
I had no fear of him: and now, if he but speaks to me, I tremble […]
Frederick Marryat… Olla Podrida
The dark was fast gathering, but children still romped in the street.
Harry Wilson… Ewing\'s Lady
Meg
danced and flirted, chattered and giggled, as the other girls did. After supper
she undertook the German, and blundered through it, nearly upsetting her
partner with her long skirt, and romping in a
[… manner] that scandalized Laurie, who looked on and meditated a lecture. But
he got no chance to deliver it, for Meg kept away from him till he came to say
good night.
Louisa Alcott… Little Women
When
the children got tired and began to be restless, [… Miss Grey] proposed a game,
and in a few minutes the whole school was
romping and shouting and enjoying the
novelty of a real play in the schoolroom.
Olive Miller… Kristy's Rainy Day Picnic
… on
the lawn was a light fanciful tent, or an arbour hung with foliage, under which
the occupants, with perhaps a party of friends from the city, were taking tea,
and groups of rosy children were romping around
them.
John Stephens… Incidents of travel in Greece…
The
old turnspit was bred in the kitchen, and its daily task was to run in the
revolving drum that helped to roast the meat. […] It cared not to romp in the green meadows, to run
with the hounds, it waddled about the kitchen floor looking out for the bones and
scraps of fat cast to it, as payment for its toil.
Sabine Baring-Gould… Castles…
[…]
white and red cows were grazing, and now and then young horses romping away from groups of their elders.
William Howells… Seven English Cities
Some
of the villages are inhabited, almost exclusively, by fishermen; and it is
pleasant to see their great boats hauled up on the beach, making little patches
of shade, where they lie asleep, or where the women and children sit romping and looking out to sea, while
they mend their nets upon the shore.
Charles Dickens (Pictures from Italy)
[The children] would climb and clamber upstairs with him, and romp about him on the sofa, or group themselves at his knee, […],
while he seemed to tell them some story.
Charles Dickens… Dombey and Son
Every
night after supper the prettiest gang of skunks would frolic down off the
hillside and romp round us.
Harry Leon… Ma Pettengill
-) With
the preposition with + noun of the participant(s):
For
the last three months he had been at home, and his chief employment was kissing
and romping with the maids.
Frederick Marryat… Olla Podrida
[…] ladies, gentlemen […], romped with the girls of the house in
high good-humour.
Hester Piozzi… Observations and Reflections…
[The
children] had, […], other playmates with whom they could romp all day long.
James Stephens… The Crock of Gold
My
aunt and others were in the very field, but had no idea of the game we were
playing, the girl romping with us had no idea that we were looking at her cunt, and
an instantaneous peep only it was.
Walter… My secret life
[…]
the oran-outang never condescended to romp with the monkey, as he did with the boys of the ship.
Oliver Goldsmith… A history of the earth…
2. Slang: (of
an animated being) to move, locomote or run easily, as if for sake of
play.
-) With adverbs, as along, away, etc.
3. Slang: to win easily a race or prize, as if for sake of, or as if in consequence of, a play
(frequently in idiomatic constructions, as to romp
in, to romp
home).
Transitively: Slang: to win (something) easily, as if for sake of, or as if in consequence
of, a play. It is found frequently
in the idiomatic construction to romp it.
English words
derived from the verb ROMP: romping (noun, participial adj.), romp, rompingly,
romper, rompish, rompishly, rompishness, rompy.
