curvet

Meanings

1. Of a horse or, by extension, another animal: to leap about, to frolic.
2. To cause to leap about, dart or jump.
3. To fly or swim with darting movements.
4. (of a person) To prance; to caper, frolic.
5. (of an object) To jump, skip, shake.

1. A particular leap in which a horse raises both forelegs at once, equally advanced, and, as the forelegs are falling, raises the hind legs, so that all the legs are in the air at once.
2. A prank; a frolic.

Etymology

From Italian corvetta, diminutive of corva, an early form of curva (“curve”), from Latin curva, feminine of curvus (“bent, curved”).