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horseplay

horse·play
H h

Transcription

    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • UK Pronunciation
    • UK IPA
    • [hawrs-pley]
    • /ˈhɔrsˌpleɪ/
    • /ˈhɔːs.pleɪ/
    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [hawrs-pley]
    • /ˈhɔrsˌpleɪ/

Definitions of horseplay word

  • noun horseplay rough or boisterous play or pranks. 1
  • noun horseplay Rough, boisterous play. 1
  • noun horseplay playfully rough behaviour 1
  • uncountable noun horseplay Horseplay is rough play in which people push and hit each other, or behave in a silly way. 0
  • noun horseplay rough, boisterous, or rowdy play 0
  • noun horseplay rough, boisterous fun 0

Information block about the term

Origin of horseplay

First appearance:

before 1580
One of the 35% oldest English words
First recorded in 1580-90; horse + play

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Horseplay

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation

horseplay popularity

A pretty common term. Usually people know it’s meaning, but prefer to use a more spread out synonym. About 69% of English native speakers know the meaning and use word.
This word is included in each student's vocabulary. Most likely there is at least one movie with this word in the title.

horseplay usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

Synonyms for horseplay

noun horseplay

  • misbehavior — improper, inappropriate, or bad behavior.
  • shenanigans — Usually, shenanigans. mischief; prankishness: Halloween shenanigans. deceit; trickery.
  • tomfoolery — foolish or silly behavior; tomfoolishness.
  • rowdiness — a rough, disorderly person.
  • hijinks — boisterous celebration or merrymaking; unrestrained fun: The city is full of conventioneers indulging in their usual high jinks.

verb horseplay

  • monkey around — any mammal of the order Primates, including the guenons, macaques, langurs, and capuchins, but excluding humans, the anthropoid apes, and, usually, the tarsier and prosimians. Compare New World monkey, Old World monkey.
  • act out — If you act out an event which has happened, you copy the actions which took place and make them into a play.
  • caracole — a half turn to the right or left
  • dancing — When people dance for enjoyment or to entertain others, you can refer to this activity as dancing.
  • cavort — When people cavort, they leap about in a noisy and excited way.

Top questions with horseplay

  • what is horseplay?
  • what is horseplay in the workplace?
  • why is it called horseplay?
  • what does horseplay mean?
  • what is horseplay at work?
  • what is the meaning of horseplay?

See also

Matching words

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