gallivant

Etymology

1809, from gallant (“wooing women”), originally in sense “to flirt”, broadened to mean “roaming without plan”.

verb

  1. (intransitive) To roam about for pleasure without any definite plan.
    Bertram, it is true, when he heard of the plan, rebelled, and asserted that what Billy needed was a rest, an entire rest from care and labor. In fact, what he wanted her to do, he said, was to gallivant – to gallivant all day long. 1914, Eleanor H. Porter, chapter 18, in Miss Billy – Married, page 214
    The episode also opens with an inspired bit of business for Homer, who blithely refuses to acquiesce to an elderly neighbor’s utterly reasonable request that he help make the process of selling her house easier by wearing pants when he gallivants about in front of windows, throw out his impressive collection of rotting Jack-O-Lanterns from previous Halloweens and take out his garbage, as it’s attracting wildlife (cue moose and Northern Exposure theme song). May 27, 2012, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “New Kid On The Block” (season 4, episode 8; originally aired 11/12/1992)”, in The Onion AV Club
  2. (intransitive, obsolete) To flirt, to romance.

Attribution / Disclaimer All definitions come directly from Wiktionary using the Wiktextract library. We do not edit or curate the definitions for any words, if you feel the definition listed is incorrect or offensive please suggest modifications directly to the source (wiktionary/gallivant), any changes made to the source will update on this page periodically.