to do cartwheel
1
3.5
- phrasal verb
- /duː ˈkɑrtˌwiːl/
:
hacer una voltereta
- Does it do cartwheels?
Do you think you'll still love your gymnastics doing cartwheels?
- Do you think you'll still love your gymnastics doing cartwheels?
Examples
-
After winning the championship, the children began to do cartwheels on the grass.
-
Todd and Lee went over to her and did cartwheels and rode upside-down bicycles with their legs.
Fiction book (1992) -
I would do cartwheels on the beach, and then I would flip off into the ocean.
-
There's four guys who can do cartwheels.
-
Most people are doing cartwheels by 11, Kile.
-
She did cartwheels the first time she came into my office.
-
They're doing cartwheels across the rocks now.
Fiction book (1999) -
"So monkeys can't do cartwheels, huh?" she said.
Fiction book (2000) -
Holly, you can't just throw out vague observations about how the air feels and expect me to do cartwheels.
-
I remember one afternoon, it was the first day of Spring, the flowers were blooming, the sun was shining and you and I were doing cartwheels right down that hill over there.
Synonyms
14
3.0
To roll and flip your body in gymnastics
Antonyms
How Energetic
1
3.3
1
3.5
- Informal
6
2.5
124
1.0
∞
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly and transparently derived from 'do' (to perform) + 'cartwheel' (a sideways gymnastic movement); it literally means to perform that movement. The 'do + noun' construction to indicate performing an action is common in English and across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily understand it.
Etymology
Do cartwheel comes from the literal move cartwheel, where the body turns sideways like a wheel and the hands and feet touch the ground in turn. People often do a cartwheel when they are very happy, so do cartwheel means 'to show great happiness'.