subs. (old: now recognised).—A boisterous girl; a TOMBOY: see RAMP and quot. 1698 (B. E., GROSE). Also as verb. = (1) to LARK (q.v.); to play the RIG (q.v.); to wanton; and (2) TO ROMP IN = to win easily (racing).
1617. FLETCHER, The Mad Lover, i. 1.
| How our St. Georges will bestride the dragons, | |
| The red and RAMPING dragons. |
1698. COLLIER, A Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage [T. L. KINGTON-OLIPHANT, The New English, ii. 128. The a changes to o, for the noun ROMP is formed from the verb RAMP].
1711. STEELE, Spectator, 187. The air she gave herself was that of a ROMPING girl. Ibid., Tatler, No. 15. My cousin Betty, the greatest ROMP in nature.
1730. J. THOMSON, The Seasons, Autumn, 528.
| ROMP-loving miss | |
| Is haul’d about, in gallantry robust. |
1761. CHURCHILL, The Rosciad, 685.
| First, giggling, plotting chambermaids arrive, | |
| Hoydens and ROMPS, led on by General Clive. |
1882. ‘THORMANBY,’ Fatuous Racing Men, 16. The north-country horse … could not touch Eclipse, who simply ROMPED IN, the easiest of winners.
1891. Sporting Life, 20 March. I recall his recent half-mile at Oxford, when he ROMPED home in the easiest possible manner.
1894. GEORGE MOORE, Esther Waters, xxx. Favourites ROMPING in one after the other.
