gallop

Meanings

Noun

  • The fastest gait of a horse, a two-beat stride during which all four legs are off the ground simultaneously.
  • An abnormal rhythm of the heart, made up of three or four sounds, like a horse's gallop.

Verb

  • To run at a gallop.
  • To ride at a galloping pace.
  • To cause to gallop.
  • To make electrical or other utility lines sway and/or move up and down violently, usually due to a combination of high winds and ice accrual on the lines.
  • To run very fast.
  • To go rapidly or carelessly, as in making a hasty examination.
  • To progress rapidly through the body.

Origin

  • From Middle English galopen ("to gallop"), from Old French galoper (compare modern French galoper), from Frankish *wala hlaupan ("to run well"), from *wala + *hlaupan, from Proto-Germanic *hlaupanÄ… ("to run, leap, spring"), from Proto-Indo-European *klaup-, *klaub-. Possibly also derived from a deverbal of Frankish *walhlaup ("battle run") from *wal from a Proto-Germanic word meaning "dead, victim, slain" from Proto-Indo-European *wel- ("death in battle, killed in battle") + *hlaup from *hlaupan. More at well, leap, valkyrie. See also the doublet wallop, coming from the same source through an Old Northern French variant.

Modern English dictionary

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