gallop

[gal-uhp]

verb (used without object)

1. to ride a horse at a gallop; ride at full speed.

   They galloped off to meet their friends.

2. to run rapidly by leaps, as a horse; go at a gallop.

3. to go fast, race, or hurry, as a person or time.

   Synonyms: scoot, fly, speed, dash, rush, run

verb (used with object)

1. to cause (a horse or other animal) to gallop.

noun

1. a fast gait of the horse or other quadruped in which, in the course of each stride, all four feet are off the ground at once.

2. a run or ride at this gait.

3. a rapid rate of going.

4. a period of going rapidly.

gallop

/ ˈɡæləp /

verb

1. (intr) (of a horse or other quadruped) to run fast with a two-beat stride in which all four legs are off the ground at once

2. to ride (a horse, etc) at a gallop

3. (intr) to move, read, talk, etc, rapidly; hurry

noun

1. the fast two-beat gait of horses and other quadrupeds

2. an instance of galloping

Other Word Forms

• galloper noun
• outgallop verb (used with object)

Word History and Origins

Origin of gallop¹

1375–1425; late Middle English galopen (v.) < Old French galoper < Frankish *wala hlaupan to run well ( well ¹, leap ) or, alternatively, verbal derivative of *walhlaup, equivalent to *wal battlefield (cognate with Old High German wal; Valkyrie ) + *hlaup run, course (derivative of the v.)

Word History and Origins

Origin of gallop¹

C16: from Old French galoper, of uncertain origin

Example Sentences

Her ballad quickly shifts into a galloping tribute.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

But his athletic, endurance game came good, with a galloping break near the end earning the territory from which Slade went over.

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Mitchell's arrival off the bench cranked up the tempo and a sharp inside ball from Ford sent Coles galloping deep into Pumas territory.

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The cool air flaps past my face as we gallop away.

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A man who had loosed the reins of his mind to gallop in pursuit of evil and was now unable to gather them up again!

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Related Words

• amble 
• dart 
• dash 
• hurry 
• lope 
• stride 
• trot 
• zoom