scamper
/'skæmpə/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
Verb:
- To run or move quickly and lightly, often with small, hurried steps, typically due to excitement, fear, or playfulness. It describes a rapid, sometimes frantic, but not necessarily panicked, movement.
- To move about or proceed in a hurried, hasty manner.
Noun:
- The act of scampering; a quick, light, and often playful run or movement.
Examples of Usage
Verb:
- The squirrels scamper up the tree when they hear a noise.
- The children scampered across the playground, full of energy.
- The mice scampered away into their hole.
Noun:
- We watched the quick scamper of the rabbits in the field.
- The dog gave a happy scamper around the yard.
Advanced Usage
- "to scamper through": To go through a place or activity very quickly and superficially.
- We only had an hour, so we had to scamper through the museum.
- "to scamper away/off": To run away quickly.
- The cat scampered off as soon as the door opened.
Variants and Related Words
- Scamperer (n): One who scampers. (Rarely used)
- Scampering (n/adj): The act of scampering; moving in a scampering manner.
- We heard the scampering of tiny feet in the attic.
Synonyms
- Scurry: To move hurriedly with short, quick steps, often implying a sense of urgency or fear.
- Dart: To move suddenly and quickly in a particular direction.
- Scoot: To go or leave quickly.
- Skitter: To move lightly and quickly, often with a skipping or bouncing motion.
Related Phrasal Verbs
(Note: "Scamper" is not commonly used to form standard phrasal verbs. The combinations "scamper away," "scamper off," and "scamper through" are better understood as the verb "scamper" followed by a preposition/adverb.)
Related Idioms
- No common idioms are directly formed with the word "scamper."
Noun
- rushing about hastily in an undignified way
Verb
- to move about or proceed hurriedly
- so terrified by the extraordinary ebbing of the sea that they scurried to higher ground