capriccio

Noun

capriccio (plural capriccios or capricci)

1. A sudden and unexpected or fantastic motion; a caper; a gambol; a prank, a trick.
   • She used to smile at my capriccios; and once she kissed me—actually.1873, Charles Reade, chapter VII, in A Simpleton: A Story of the Day […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC

   Synonyms:

   caper, curvet, gag, gambade, high jinks, lark, marlock, monkeyshine, practical joke, prank

2. A fantastical thing or work.
   • Will this Capricio hold in thee, art ſure?c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
   • If any Man for that reaſon has an Inclination to divert himſelf, and Sail with me round the Globe, to ſuperviſe almoſt all the Conditions of Humane Life, without being infected with the Vanities, and Vices that attend such a Whimſical Perambulation; let him follow me, who am going to Relate it in a...1700, Tom Brown, Amusements Serious and Comical, calculated for the Meridian of London, page 10

   Synonyms:

   caprice, boutade, conceit, crotchet, delirament, fancy, fangle, figary, flisk, freak

3. (painting) A type of Renaissance landscape painting that places particular works of architecture in an unusual and often fictional setting.
   • Above the drawing-room fireplace there was a painting by Guardi, a capriccio of Venice in a gilt rococo frame […]2004, Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty […], London: Picador, →ISBN
   • Capricci, far from being decorative images without meaning, probably express the sensation that the world, even though built by man with pretensions of eternity, is instead subjugated to the dominance of time […]2014, Ettore Maria Mazzola, “Capricci Capricciosi”, in Lucien Steil, editor, The Architectural Capriccio: Memory, Fantasy and Invention, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., →ISBN, page 385
4. A piece of music, usually fairly free in form and of a lively character.
   • The friar and Matilda had often sung duets together, and had been accustomed to the baron’s chiming in with a stormy capriccio, which was usually charmed into silence by some sudden turn in the witching melodies of Matilda.1822, [Thomas Love Peacock], Maid Marian, London: […] T[homas] Hookham […], pages 66–67
   • The stillness returned, save for the little voices of the night—the owl's recitative, the capriccio of the crickets, the concerto of the frogs in the grass.1909 April, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “The Renaissance at Charleroi”, in Roads of Destiny, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, →OCLC