to curvet across

9.9

Move across with a light, graceful jump like a dancer or horse

phrasal verb

Specialized

: curvetear por

The horse curveted across the field gracefully.

Examples

The ballerina seemed to curvet across the floor, mesmerizing the audience with her elegance.
With a light and joyful step, the child tried to curvet across the playground like her favorite dancer.
The horse began to curvet across the paddock, displaying its agility for the judges.
Did you see the dancer curvet across the stage?
The ballerina seemed to curvet across the floor, mesmerizing the audience with her elegance.
With a light and joyful step, the child tried to curvet across the playground like her favorite dancer.
The horse began to curvet across the paddock, displaying its agility for the judges.

Synonyms

to flit

vsto curvet across

18 6.1

To move quickly and lightly from one place to another

focuses on a graceful leaping motion rather than quick skimming movement

to dart across

vsto curvet across

2 3.0

Move suddenly and quickly from one side to the other

is graceful and leaping rather than sudden high speed movement

to hop across

vsto curvet across

1 2.2

To jump lightly from one side to the other using small jumps

involves a larger, more elegant leap rather than small simple jumps

to hop-skip

vsto curvet across

1 5.4

To move forward with small quick jumps using one foot then the other

is smoother and more leaping than playful alternating short leaps

to curvet

vsto curvet across

Specialized

1 9.9

To leap or prance so a horse's back legs leave the ground before its front legs land

is a graceful leaping movement used to cross space rather than only horse action

How Graceful

to curvet across

Specialized

9.9

to bound

19 4.2

to skip

77 1.0

to hop across

1 2.2

Surface Forms

curvet across infinitive

curveted across past

curveted across past participle

curveting across present participle

curvets across third person singular

Morphology

curvet + across

The meaning is directly derivable by combining 'curvet' (to leap or prance with grace) with 'across' (moving from one side to another), yielding 'to move across with a graceful, leaping motion.' This follows a standard verb + direction particle composition and would be understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituents (even though 'curvet' is relatively rare in usage).

Etymology

Curvet across comes from the word curvet, a quick, graceful leap used by dancers and horses, together with across, meaning to move over a space. So, to curvet across means 'to move across a place with a light, jumping, elegant step'.