skylark

Meanings

Noun

• A small brown passerine bird, Alauda arvensis, that sings as it flies high into the air.

Verb

• To jump about joyfully, frolic; to play around, play tricks.

Origin

• From sky + lark.
• Verb sense 1809, originally nautical, possibly influenced by northern English dialectal term lake/laik (from Old Norse leika ("to play (as opposed to work)")); see lark for details.