disport

Etymology

From Middle English disporten, from Old French desporter, variant of deporter, depporter, from Latin deportāre, present active infinitive of deportō. More at deport.

Verb

disport (third-person singular simple present disports, present participle disporting, simple past and past participle disported)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To amuse oneself divertingly or playfully; to cavort or gambol.
   • Buckle

     They could disport themselves.

   • Alexander Pope

     where light disports in ever mingling dyes

   • Byron

     Childe Harold basked him in the noontide sun, / Disporting there like any other fly.

   • 1905, William Somerset Maugham, chapter XXXVIII, in The Land of the Blessed Virgin: Sketches and Impressions in Andalusia, London: William Heinemann, OCLC 962027576, page 215:

     It was there [Cadiz, Spain] that on Sunday I had seen the populace disport itself, and it was full of life then, gay and insouciant.

2. To display ostentatiously
3. To remove from a port; to carry away.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Prynne to this entry?)

Noun

disport (plural disports)

1. (archaic) A pastime; anything which diverts one from serious matters; a game; sport; relaxation, recreation; entertainment; amusement
2. (obsolete) Fun; gaiety; merriment; mirth; joy
3. (obsolete) Deportment; bearing; carriage.
4. (obsolete) orientation; elevation; bearing.
   • 1662, Thomas Salusbury, Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief Systems of the World (Dialogue Two)

     ... shooting a bullet ... out of a Culverin towards the East, and afterwards another, with the same charge, and at the same elevation or disport towards the West.

Anagrams

• torpids, tripods