Search the Dictionary

A sudden, unexpected movement; a sudden and capricious impulse; a sally; as, starts of fancy. To check the starts and sallies of the soul. Addison.

gan or harpsichord, somewhat in the free and brilliant style of the prelude, fantasia, or capriccio.

Oblique; -- applied to the six signs of the zodiac (from Capricorn to Gemini) which ascend most rapidly and obliquely. [Obs.] Skeat. Infortunate ascendent tortuous. Chaucer. --Tor"tu*ous*ly, adv. -- Tor"tu*ous*ness, n.

of the transitive or derivative applications of words depend on casual and unaccountable caprices of the feelings or the fancy. Stewart.

ge the piece. Trigger fish (Zoöl.), a large plectognath fish (Balistes Carolinensis or B. capriscus) common on the southern coast of the United States, and valued as a food fish in some localities. Its rough skin is used for scouring and polishing in the place of sandpaper. Called also leather jacket, and turbot.…

or, the northern circle being called the Tropic of Cancer, and the southern the Tropic of Capricorn, from the names of the two signs at which they touch the ecliptic.

Given to, or characterized by, vagaries; capricious; whimsical; crochety.

A sudden turn or start of the mind; a temporary eccentricity; a freak; a fancy; a capricious notion; a humor; a caprice. Let every man enjoy his whim. Churchill.

A whim; a freak; a capricious notion, a fanciful or odd conceit. "The whimsies of poets and painters." Ray. Men's folly, whimsies, and inconstancy. Swift. Mistaking the whimseys of a feverish brain for the calm revelation of truth. Bancroft.