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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
scamper
verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
off
▪ At once the clown scampered off into the dark.
▪ Jennifer scampered off to set up the game.
▪ Why not just demand their valuables and scamper off?
▪ The boy scampered off, well pleased, all his earlier anxiety and depression passed.
▪ They scampered off, barking like the devil.
up
▪ She blew a kiss to Tunney, and scampered up a wall like a spider.
▪ Her weedy children would scamper up to practice karate in the clearing of his property.
▪ He scampered up the outer staircase and disappeared into the hall.
▪ One day we scampered up a hill for a more extensive view, through fields of berries and bright-purple fireweed.
▪ She scampered up the bank through the weeds to the footpath.
▪ He marched along beside her, then scampered up the aluminum stairs.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Children were scampering and wrestling in the playground.
▪ Jenny scampered off in excitement to set up the game.
▪ The monkeys scampered down the tree, anxious to investigate what was happening on the ground.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Closer by, red foxes scamper along Further Lane and deer browse near the front door.
▪ From inside I heard scampering, then silence.
▪ He scampered up the outer staircase and disappeared into the hall.
▪ One day we scampered up a hill for a more extensive view, through fields of berries and bright-purple fireweed.
▪ Sam scampered on ahead of them and waited at Dobbs' field.
▪ Sammy scampered leisurely in front of him while he stopped intermittently to pick up sweet chestnuts on the way.
▪ She hurried downstage and scampered down the makeshift gangway to the auditorium floor.
▪ She turned around and scampered back across the footpath to the gate, squeezed under and crept to the dish.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Scamper

Scamper \Scam"per\, n. A scampering; a hasty flight.

Scamper

Scamper \Scam"per\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Scampered; p. pr. & vb. n. Scampering.] [OF. escamper to escape, to save one's self; L. ex from + campus the field (sc. of battle). See Camp, and cf. Decamp, Scamp, n., Shamble, v. t.] To run with speed; to run or move in a quick, hurried manner; to hasten away.
--Macaulay.

The lady, however, . . . could not help scampering about the room after a mouse.
--S. Sharpe.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
scamper

"to run quickly," 1680s, probably from Flemish schampeeren, frequentative of schampen "run away," from Old North French escamper (Old French eschamper) "to run away, flee, quit the battlefield, escape," from Vulgar Latin *excampare "decamp," literally "leave the field," from Latin ex campo, from ex "out of" (see ex-) + campo, ablative of campus "field" (see campus). A vogue word late 17c. Related: Scampered; scampering. The noun is 1680s, from the verb.

Wiktionary
scamper

n. A quick, light run. vb. (context intransitive English) To run quickly and lightly, especially in a playful manner or in an undignified manner.

WordNet
scamper
  1. n. rushing about hastily in an undignified way [syn: scramble, scurry]

  2. v. to move about or proceed hurriedly; "so terrified by the extraordinary ebbing of the sea that they scurried to higher ground" [syn: scurry, skitter, scuttle]

Wikipedia
Scamper (horse)

Gills Bay Boy (1977 – 4 July 2012), nicknamed "Scamper", was a bay American Quarter Horse gelding. He became notable for his success in barrel racing competition. Barrel racer Charmayne James rode Scamper from 1984 to 1993 in the National Finals Rodeo, with the pair winning the WPRA World Championship ten years in a row, from 1984 through 1993. After being retired from competition, he was cloned. The clone, nicknamed "Clayton", has been kept a stallion and stands at stud. Scamper died on July 4, 2012, at the age of 35.

Scamper

Scamper may refer to:

  • Scamper (horse), a barrel racing horse
  • Scamper, a fictional character and the partner of Metroplex in the Transformers universe
  • Scamper, a fictional penguin and namesake of The Adventures of Scamper the Penguin, a 1988 animated feature film also known as The Adventures of Lolo the Penguin
  • Scamper, a former wooden roller coaster that was one of Cedar Point (Sandusky, Ohio)'s attractions

Usage examples of "scamper".

The bruised foot forgotten, Milly did an amazingly spritely scamper all the way back to their cart.

Savi out of sweet clay for His son to bite and eat, add honeycomb and pods, chewing her neck until froth rises bladdery, quick, quick, till maggots scamper through my brain.

The Dutch gunners had left the Islanders to settle their own quarrels, and were scampering back to Bridgewater, leaving their silent pieces to the Royal Horse.

As Leia left the dormitory with Jaina and Jacen, several of the little ones climbed out of bed and scampered to the Wookiee, to cuddle against his brindled fur.

When a boulder flattened a stock pen or fold or sty and freed its contents, the horses and sheep and pigs scampered hither and yon, bleating, squealing, neighing, butting, kicking.

And the centuries-old division between India and Pakistan like a severed limb the refugees breaking down all attempts at organization finally the water-table under the city hopelessly poisoned by sewage mass eruptions of disease scampering mesolithic men crouching in their cave exchanging illnesses viruses use mankind as walking cities.

She caught up one of the soft furry mouselets and let the others scamper away.

Klyucharyov, hero of several previous works, is found struggling for survival in a city divided between an underground realm of safety and plenty and an overground wilderness in which human society has virtually ceased to function: the lights have gone out, stray, frightened figures scamper between dark buildings, rape and robbery take place unremarked, and the dead are left unburied.

Macedonian phalanxes a flurry of peltasts scampered, showering the advancing Athenians with arrows and javelins and rocks.

They scampered like lunatics beneath the hidden moon, every bit of ice between them and Penultima Thule an affront to their sanity.

Clutching the fist-sized piece of quartzite in his hand, he scampered down the bank and headed for the muddy river.

She quirked in wonder as the animal frantically scampered up a nearby tree.

But Searcher stayed with Dawn, scampering along as well as an augmented racoon could.

He felt a stab inside his ears as always, and the scampering sounds quickly departed.

Harold tried not to step on any of the scampering rats underfoot as he crossed the pit into the tunnel.