caperer

English

Etymology

From caper +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈkeɪpəɹə(ɹ)/

Noun

caperer (plural caperers)

  1. One who capers, leaps, and skips about, or dances.
  2. A caddis fly larva.
    • 1863, Charles Kingsley, The Water Babies: A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby:
      The fairies had washed him, you see, in the swift river, so thoroughly, that not only his dirt, but his whole husk and shell had been washed quite off him, and the pretty little real Tom was washed out of the inside of it, and swam away, as a caddis does when its case of stones and silk is bored through, and away it goes on its back, paddling to the shore, there to split its skin, and fly away as a caperer, on four fawn-coloured wings, with long legs and horns. They are foolish fellows, the caperers, and fly into the candle at night, if you leave the door open.
    • 1925, Horatio Gordon Hutchinson, A Fellowship of Anglers, page 93:
      [] caddis insects, the tribe to which the caperer belongs, may be said to do either the one or the other.

Anagrams

Latin

Etymology 1

Verb

caperer

  1. first-person singular imperfect passive subjunctive of capiō

Etymology 2

Verb

caperer

  1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of caperō