capriccios

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]...

   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
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