capriccio

A sudden and unexpected or fantastic motion; a caper (from same etymology, see below); a gambol; a prank, a trick.

She used to smile at my capriccios; and once she kissed me—actually.

A fantastical thing or work.

Will this Capricio hold in thee, art ſure?

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 Stile, and Language, proper to the Variety of the Subject: For as the Caprichio came Naturally into my Pericranium, I am reſolv’d to purſue it through Thick and Thin, to enlarge my Capacity for a Man of Buſineſs.

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 […]

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 […]

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.

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.