Definitions
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun colloq. The act of running about the rigging of a vessel in sport; hence, frolicking; scuffing; sporting; carousing.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb Present participle of
skylark . - noun Playing around;
frolicking ; originally, running about therigging of avessel for fun.
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Two of the men were what you call skylarking, and running one way while the child was running the other.
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The song of the skylark sounds pooty, but "skylarking" song's better fun,
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 101, August 15, 1891 Various
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Transylvania, that "skylarking" in the centre of a main-travelled road where, at the best of times, electricity literally drips off one's stanchions and screw blades, is unnecessary.
Actions and Reactions Rudyard Kipling 1900
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That strict gentleman had recently been annoyed by the "skylarking" of girlish passengers who had tried
Dorothy's Travels Evelyn Raymond 1876
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But though he curbed his tendency to profitless and hurtful "skylarking," he had far too much of the Berserker blood of his ancestors -- those rough old vikings who "despised mail and helmet and went into battle unharnessed" -- to become altogether gentle in manners or occupation.
Historic Boys Their Endeavours, Their Achievements, and Their Times Elbridge Streeter Brooks 1874
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There was a great deal of "skylarking" done in the cabin, as well as on deck, during the next hour, but one by one the boys below dropped asleep, and those on deck were soon tired of play, and called upon
Little By Little or, The Cruise of the Flyaway Oliver Optic 1859
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A constant carousal, therefore, was kept up, and drinking, singing, dancing, and "skylarking" were practised from morning to night.
Ran Away to Sea Mayne Reid 1850
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When he and a line of comrades extending across the footway -- say of that solitary mountain-spur of the Abruzzi, the Waterloo Road -- advance towards me 'skylarking' among themselves, my purse or shirt-pin is in predestined peril from his playfulness.
The Uncommercial Traveller Charles Dickens 1841
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The mood is one of hope, lambent optimism for the future, and the streets are busy: wares, from hammocks to human hair brushes to hawksbill turtle shells, are being hawked with zest; horse-drawn buggies spindle in and about the cobblestone streets; children are skylarking in the alleys.
Richard Bangs: Nic' of Time Richard Bangs 2010
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The mood is one of hope, lambent optimism for the future, and the streets are busy: wares, from hammocks to human hair brushes to hawksbill turtle shells, are being hawked with zest; horse-drawn buggies spindle in and about the cobblestone streets; children are skylarking in the alleys.
Richard Bangs: Nic' of Time Richard Bangs 2010
niels commented on the word skylarking
"Hey! Stop throwing that ball in the hall! No skylarking in the dorm!"
March 14, 2007