different between vagary vs caper

English

Etymology

From Latin vagus (“wandering”).

Pronunciation

• (General American, formerly) IPA^(key): /v?????i/
• (General American, now commonly) IPA^(key): /?ve????i/

Noun

vagary (plural vagaries)

1. An erratic, unpredictable occurrence or action.
   • 1871, Charles Kingsley, At Last: A Christmas In The West Indies, ch. 8:

     It now turns out that the Pitch Lake, like most other things, owes its appearance on the surface to no convulsion or vagary at all, but to a most slow, orderly, and respectable process of nature, by which buried vegetable matter, which would have become peat, and finally brown coal, in a temperate climate, becomes, under the hot tropic soil, asphalt and oil.
2. An impulsive or illogical desire; a caprice or whim.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:whim

   • 1905, Jack London, War of the Classes, Preface:

     And then came the day when my socialism grew respectable,—still a vagary of youth, it was held, but romantically respectable.

Derived terms

• vagarity
• vagarious

Related terms

• vague
• vagrant
• vagabond

Translations

See also

• vaguery

Anagrams

• Varyag

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?ke?p?/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?ke?p?/
• Rhymes: -e?p?(?)
• Hyphenation: ca?per

Etymology 1

Clipping of capriole.

Noun

caper (plural capers)

1. A playful leap or jump.
2. A jump while dancing.
3. A prank or practical joke.
4. (usually in plural) Playful behaviour.
5. (figuratively) A crime, especially an elaborate heist, or a narrative about such a crime.

Derived terms

• cut a caper

Related terms

• cab
• caprine

Translations

Verb

caper (third-person singular simple present capers, present participle capering, simple past and past participle capered)

1. To leap or jump about in a sprightly or playful manner.
2. To jump as part of a dance.
3. To engage in playful behaviour.

Translations

Etymology 2

From Dutch kaper.

Noun

caper (plural capers)

1. A vessel formerly used by the Dutch; privateer.

Translations

Etymology 3

From Latin capparis, from Ancient Greek ???????? (kápparis).

Noun

caper (plural capers)

1. The pungent grayish green flower bud of the European and Oriental caper (Capparis spinosa), which is pickled and eaten.
2. A plant of the genus Capparis.

   Synonyms: caper bush, caper tree, caperberry

Derived terms

• caperberry

Translations

Further reading

• caper on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology 4

Shortening of capercaillie.

Noun

caper (plural capers)

1. (Scotland) The capercaillie.

Translations

Anagrams

• Pacer, crape, pacer, recap

French

Etymology

From English cap + -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka.pe/

Verb

caper

1. (finance) to cap (set a limit to)
2. (sports) to cap (award a player a cap for playing for their national team)

Conjugation

Indonesian

Etymology

From blend of cari (“seeking”) +? perhatian (“attention”), from calque of English attention-seeking.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?t??ap?r]
• Hyphenation: ca?pêr

Adjective

capêr (plural caper-caper)

1. (colloquial, acronym) attention-seeking.

Further reading

• “caper” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (KBBI) Daring, Jakarta: Badan Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Bahasa, Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia, 2016.

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *kapros, from Proto-Indo-European *kápros (“buck, he-goat”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?ka.per/, [?käp?r]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?ka.per/, [?k??p?r]

Noun

caper m (genitive capr?); second declension

1. a male goat, billy goat

   Synonym: hircus

2. vocative singular of caper

Declension

Second-declension noun (nominative singular in -er).

Related terms

Descendants

References

• caper in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• caper in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• caper in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• caper in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• caper in William Smith, editor (1848) A Dictionary of Greek Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray

Middle French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin capere.

Verb

caper

1. to seize

Conjugation

• Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

caper m

1. indefinite plural of cape