horseplay

English

Alternative forms

• horse-play (rare)

Etymology

A compound of horse +‎ play, possibly from observation of boisterous horses playing, or from its attributive sense "strong, big or coarse".

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

horseplay (uncountable)

1. Rough or rowdy play that can often result in unintentional physical harm.
   • 2016 June, Roger Riffelmacher, Rogg's Bar And Grill, AuthorHouse, →ISBN, →OCLC, →ISBN:

     After a little horseplay and floating around, April said “Look over there, it's our skinny dipper. […]

Synonyms

• roughhousing

Translations

rough or rowdy play

• Bulgarian: груба шега f (gruba šega), лудория (bg) f (ludorija)
• Finnish: hevosenleikki (fi)
• French: chahut (fr) m
• German: Unfug (de) m, Herumgealber n
• Irish: pleidhcíocht f
• Polish: harce m pl, swawola (pl) f
• Spanish: pelea (es) f, camorra (es) f
• Yoruba: erépá

Verb

horseplay (third-person singular simple present horseplays, present participle horseplaying, simple past and past participle horseplayed)

1. (intransitive) To engage in horseplay.
   • 2004, Kyle Longley, Senator Albert Gore, Sr.: Tennessee Maverick, page 136:

     [S]he arose at seven o'clock and spent the first hour preparing pancakes while Al and Albert horseplayed.

Synonyms

• play fight
• roughhouse

Translations

to engage in horseplay

• French: chahuter (fr)
• German: raufen (de)
• Spanish: pelear (es)
• Yoruba: ṣerépá