Make Your Point > Archived Issues > SKYLARK

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connect this word to others: Romp, caper, gambol, frolic, cav__t, lark, skylark. They're all synonyms for the kind of silly, boisterous play we did as children in the summertime with a backyard sprinkler. Or as college kids at three AM with a copy of Twister. When you say that kids are skylarking, you're comparing them to those songbirds that fly so high and sing so distinctively. With that in mind, see if you can recall the term of venery for larks: "an e_____tion of larks." (To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.) make your point with... "SKYLARK" A lark, or a skylark, is a kind of high-flying songbird. Figuratively, a lark is a spree, a silly game, or a playful adventure. And to lark, or to skylark, is to play around, often in a loud, silly, or teasing way. Pronunciation: SKY lark Part of speech: We'll focus on the verb, which is usually the intransitive kind: "they're skylarking," "they skylarked up and down the street." Other forms: skylarks, skylarked, skylarking, skylarker(s) How to use it:  This word is fun and whimsical. It can sound funny and old-fashioned when you use it literally to describe the playful antics of animals, children, or adults acting like children. That is, "skylarking" is right up there (yes, up there) with old-fashioned synonyms like "tomfoolery," "shenanigans," and the stuffy and hilarious "monkeyshines." However, "skylark" can sound lofty and poetic when you use it figuratively. Talk about musicians skylarking on their albums and in their guitar solos, authors skylarking in their short stories and their expository scenes, politicians and celebrities skylarking on talk shows and behind podiums, etc. Either way, with "skylark," you're comparing your subjects to joyful, musical, high-flying birds. examples: "When off duty, [the boys] would be for ever skipping about like mountain goats, skylarking, and pulling one another about. "    — Powell Millington, To Lhassa at Last, 1905 "The [Marx] Brothers routinely let loose streams of cascading puns, malapropisms, word associations, and seemingly pointless slapstick that are perplexingly bad and often aggressively anti-comedic, but taken collectively become overwhelming, and thereby hilarious. In the words of the 1930s film critic Otis Ferguson: 'You realize while wiping your eyes well into the second handkerchief that it is nothing so much as a hodgepodge of skylarking.'"    — Shon Arieh-Lerer, Slate, 6 January 2016 has this page helped you understand "skylark"? Awesome, I'm glad it helped! Thanks for letting me know! If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. study it: Explain the meaning of "skylark" without saying "romp" or "caper." try it out: Fill in the blanks: "I remember skylarking with (certain friends) (at a certain time or place), (doing something silly and lighthearted)." Example: "I remember skylarking with the other girls in my cabin well past midnight, daring each other to run over and ring the lunch bell." If you like, use this space to draft your sentence. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.) before you review, play: Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first. In August, we're playing the time-honored Game of Venery! We're inventing terms for groups of things: terms that James Lipton, the author of An Exaltation of Larks, calls "shards of poetry and truth." Example terms of venery include lovely ones like "a conflagration of fireflies" and silly ones like "a myopia of umpires," "a rash of dermatologists," and "an unemployment of graduates." In each issue this month, I'll offer two templates. Have fun filling them in and sharing your inventions with your family, being as lofty, silly, or bawdy as you like. In each subsequent issue, I'll list the actual terms that appear in Lipton's book. From the previous issue: 1. An oxymoron of _____ 2. A _____ of libraries The terms listed in the book are "an oxymoron of athletic scholarships" and "a trove of libraries." Try these today: 1. A discord of _____ 2. A _____ of tour guides review this word: 1. A near opposite of SKYLARKING is A. PUTTING YOUR FOOT DOWN. B. PUTTING YOUR NOSE TO THE GRINDSTONE. C. PUTTING YOUR MONEY WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS. 2. In Patricia MacLachlan's novel Skylark, Sarah was like a skylark in childhood, always _____. A. drifting, soaring, and plunging B. running, climbing, and singing C. pecking, chittering, and worrying 1. B 2. B a final word: I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog:    36 ways to study words.    Why we forget words, & how to remember them.    How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.