Somersault

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Somersault \Som"er*sault\, Somerset \Som"er*set\, n. [F.
     soubresaut a jump, leap, OF. soubresault, It. soprassalto an
     overleap, fr. L. supra over + saltus a leap, fr. salire to
     leap; or the French may be from Sp. sobresalto a sudden
     asault, a surprise. See {Supra}, and Salient.]
     A leap in which a person turns his heels over his head and


     lights upon his feet; a turning end over end. [Written also
     {summersault}, {sommerset}, {summerset}, etc.] "The vaulter's
     sombersalts." --Donne.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           Now I'll only
           Make him break his neck in doing a sommerset. --Beau. &
                                                    Fl.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  somersault
       n : an acrobatic feat in which the feet roll over the head
           (either forward or backward) and return [syn: {somersaulting},
            {flip}]
       v : do a somersault

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  24 Moby Thesaurus words for "somersault":
     be lost, capsizal, capsize, culbute, founder, go down, keel,
     keel over, overset, overthrow, overturn, pitchpole, revolution,
     scuttle, sink, somerset, spill, subversion, turn over, turn turtle,
     turnover, upset, upset the boat, upturn