capriole

Etymology

Borrowed from French capriole, from Italian capriola.

Why this word is great

CAPRIOLE — [Noun] A trained leap performed by a horse where it springs vertically without forward motion, kicking out its hind legs at the apex. From the Italian capriola ("a leap, caper"), derived from Latin capreolus ("roe deer"), from caprea ("roe deer"), related to caper ("male goat"). Unlike a gambol (which suggests frolicsome bounds) or a caracole (a half-turn on hindquarters), the capriole is martial ballet—a piston-strike of hooves against empty air, the rider's spine taut as a bowstring, the parabola of muscle and dust suspended mid-breath. It is gravity defied, then obeyed.

noun

  1. A leap that a horse makes with all fours, upwards only, without advancing, but with a kick or jerk of the hind legs when at the height of the leap.
  2. A leap or caper, as in dancing.“With lofty turns and caprioles.”

verb

  1. To leap; to caper.
  2. To cause (one's mounted horse) to perform a capriole.“Brawny fighters, all cased in buff and iron, their hearts too sheathed in oak and triple brass, caprioled their huge war-horses, shook their death-doing spears; and went forth in the most determined manner, nothing doubting.”