Search the Dictionary

or provocate of, sport; gay; froliscome; playful; merry. Is it I That drive thee from the sportive court Shak. -- Sport"ive*ly, adv. -- Sport"ive*ness, n.

The first day of April, a day on which sportive impositions are practiced. The first of April, some do say, Is set apart for All Fools' Day. Poor Robin's Almanack (1760).

its weather, etc. The April's her eyes; it is love's spring. Shak. April fool, one who is sportively imposed upon by others on the first day of April.

Cunning or sly; sportively mischievous; roguish; as, an arch look, word, lad. [He] spoke his request with so arch a leer. Tatler.

k of Euclid, "The angles at the base of an isosceles triangle are equal to one another." [Sportive] "A schoolboy, stammering out his Asses' Bridge." F. Harrison. -- To make an ass of one's self, to do or say something very foolish or absurd.

A member of the society of Friends; a Quaker. [Sportive]

ng; a skip; a jump, as in mirth or dancing; a prank. To cut a caper, to frolic; to make a sportive spring; to play a prank. Shak.

Greediness of appetite for flesh. [Sportive.] Pope.

l and . . . falls to rating of them as if they were dogs. Bunyan. Cudgel play, a fight or sportive contest with cudgels. -- To cross the cudgels, to forbear or give up the contest; -- a phrase borrowed from the practice of cudgel players, who lay one cudgel over another when the contest is ended. -- To take up cudgel…

To act foolishly; to be foolish or sportive; to toy. [Scot.] Jamieson.

The quality of being droll; sportive tricks; buffoonery; droll stories; comical gestures or manners. The rich drollery of "She Stoops to Conquer." Macaulay.

To take in with the ears; to hear. [Sportive] "I eared her language." Two Noble Kinsmen.

To intoxicate in a slight degree; to render tipsy. [Colloq. & Sportive] "The elevated cavaliers sent for two tubs of merry stingo." Sir W. Scott.

Given to wit and good humor; merry; sportive; jocular; as, a facetious companion.

Pertaining to, or becoming, a feast; festal; joyous; gay; mirthful; sportive. -- Fes"tive*ly, adv. The glad circle round them yield their souls To festive mirth and wit that knows no gall. Thomson.

Something deposited and redeemable by a sportive fine; -- whence the game of forfeits. Country dances and forfeits shortened the rest of the day. Goldsmith.

Full of gayety and mirth; given to pranks; sportive. Old England, who takes a frolicsome brain fever once every two or three years, for the benefit of her doctors. Sir W. Scott. -- Frol"ic*some*ly, adv. -- Frol"ic*some*ness, n.

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

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

Excited with merriment; manifesting sportiveness or delight; inspiring delight; livery; merry. Belinda smiled, and all the world was gay. Pope. Gay hope is theirs by fancy fed. Gray.