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A skipping or leaping about in frolic; a hop; a sportive prank. Dryden.

Sport of any kind; jest, frolic. We have had pastimes here, and pleasant game. Shak.

Gay; sportive; playful; frolicsome; merry. Shak. Gladness of the gamesome crowd. Byron. -- Game"some*ly, adv. -- Game"some*ness, n.

A merry, frolicsome person. [Obs.] Shak.

With mirth and frolic; merrily; blithely; gleefully.

An expression of frolic and exultation, and sometimes of wonder. B. Jonson.

A pert girl; a frolicsome or sportive young woman; -- used jocosely. Goldsmith.

A noisy or unrestrained carousal or frolic; a spree. [Slang] Kipling.

Frolicsome; sportive. [Slang]

A frolic; a jolly time. [Colloq.] Dickens.

One who indulges in a lark or frolic. [Colloq.]

ent of dancing or other diversions, where all wear masks; a masquerade; hence, a revel; a frolic; a delusive show. Bacon. This thought might lead me through the world's vain mask. Milton.

To frolic or disport in disquise; to make a pretentious show of being what one is not. A freak took an ass in the head, and he goes into the woods, masquerading up and down in a lion's skin. L'Estrange.

Gayety, with laughter; mirth; frolic. "Follies and light merriment." Spenser. Methought it was the sound Of riot and ill-managed merriment. Milton.

Mirth; frolic; a meeting for mirth; a festival. [Written also merrimake.]

Masking; frolic in disguise; buffoonery. The mummery of foreign strollers. Fenton.

To engage in sport or lively recreation; to exercise for the sake of amusement; to frolic; to spot. As Cannace was playing in her walk. Chaucer. The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed to-day, Had he thy reason, would he skip and play! Pope. And some, the darlings of their Lord, Play smiling with the flame and sword. Keble.…

Sportive; gamboling; frolicsome; indulging a sportive fancy; humorous; merry; as, a playful child; a playful writer. -- Play"ful*ly, adv. -- Play"ful*ness, n.

Sport; frolic. [Prov. Eng. & Scot.]

Hence: Any assembly characterized by noise and confusion; a noisy frolic or gathering. [Colloq. U. S.]