gallop

verb

Save Word

gal·lop | \ ˈga-ləp

galloped; galloping; gallops

Definition of gallop

(Entry 1 of 2)

intransitive verb

1 : to progress or ride at a gallop

2 : to run fast

transitive verb

1 : to cause to gallop

2 : to transport at a gallop

gallop

noun

Definition of gallop (Entry 2 of 2)

1 : a bounding gait of a quadruped specifically : a fast natural usually 4-beat gait of the horse — compare canter entry 3, run

2 : a ride or run at a gallop

3 : a stretch of land suitable for galloping horses

4 : a rapid or hasty progression or pace

Other Words from gallop Synonyms Example Sentences Learn More About gallop

Keep scrolling for more

Synonyms for gallop

Synonyms: Verb

Examples of gallop in a Sentence

Verb The horse galloped toward us. He mounted his horse and galloped off to sound the alarm. She galloped her horse toward us. I grabbed my books and galloped out the door. The program gallops through early American history. Noun The horse was at full gallop. He mounted his horse and took off at a gallop. We went for a gallop through the countryside.

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb Blending high fantasy with Arthurian prestige, The Green Knight might gallop into the fray as the dark horse of the season. — Joey Nolfi, EW.com, 1 Sep. 2021 But soon things gallop apace and in the blink of an eye the first half of the show is produced by Playwrights Horizons as a workshop production, an artistic luxury unimaginable in today’s theatrical climate where science has long conquered art. — New York Times, 28 July 2021 The facility in the heart of Chester County Hunt Country in Southeastern Pennsylvania includes jumping, dressage arenas, and gallop tracks on over 75 acres of land. — Analis Bailey, USA TODAY, 31 July 2021 Johnny asked him to gallop out a little bit going underneath the wire and the horse seemed to respond nicely. — John Cherwa, Los Angeles Times, 30 May 2021 Away from the private suites and the reserved seating upstairs, the crowd is mostly working-class men, who periodically gather to stare up at banks of TVs in the bowels of the grandstand, even as beautiful horses gallop just outside in the sunshine. — William Finnegan, The New Yorker, 15 May 2021 The revolutionaries, who gallop dramatically through the area on horseback, have with them a prisoner, and he is bound. — Los Angeles Times, 27 Mar. 2021 In Boley, an all-black town populated by migrants, freedmen would gallop through the streets at night shooting out residents’ windows. — Victor Luckerson, Smithsonian Magazine, 17 Mar. 2021 The horses gallop and rear with such realism and frenzy the viewer feels compelled to jump out of the way. — Claudine Doury, Smithsonian Magazine, 20 Oct. 2020 Recent Examples on the Web: Noun Nick Chubb rushed for 161 yards, including a 52-yard TD gallop. — Terry Pluto, cleveland, 11 Oct. 2021 The congresswoman’s release advocating for D.C. statehood and unsolicited alibi come as five zebras gallop around Prince George County, Maryland. — Houston Keene, Fox News, 10 Sep. 2021 The rhythmic gallop of a horse, for example, will become strips of brown, orange, and white rippling across Pioneer Tower. — Kalley Huang, Dallas News, 21 July 2021 But this was a straight-line story of a dream taking off in full gallop. — Dave Hyde, sun-sentinel.com, 20 July 2021 About 18 months before the London Olympics, Suguiyama suggested that Ledecky adopt the gallop. — Los Angeles Times, 15 July 2021 After the less-than-stellar getaway, this entrant moved along down the backstretch and through the turn before finishing well up the rail down the lane, which preceded a solid gallop out through the clubhouse turn. — John Cherwa, Los Angeles Times, 5 June 2021 The Titans ran away with the win courtesy of RB Derrick Henry's 29-yard TD gallop in overtime. — Nate Davis, USA TODAY, 23 Nov. 2020 Working on the main track, by contrast, was Rock Your World, whom trainer John Sadler assigned a full mile-and-a-half gallop. — Guy Martin, Forbes, 5 June 2021

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'gallop.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for gallop

Verb

Middle English galopen, walopen, borrowed from Anglo-French galoper, gualoper (Picard dialect waloper), perhaps going back to Old Low Franconian *wala hlaupan, literally "to run well," from *wala "well, with good appearance or effect" (going back to Germanic *welō) + *hlaupan "to run," going back to Germanic *hlaup-a- — more at well entry 3, leap entry 1

Note: An alternative explanation sees the Old French noun as primary, and derived from Old Low Franconian *walhlaup-, from *wal- "battlefield" and *hlaup-, a nominal derivative of *hlaupan (hence alluding to a warriorʼs manner of riding on the battlefield). Though the meaning of the first noun is reflected in Old High German wal "battlefield," the general meaning of the Germanic etymon is "the slain, the dead in battle" (see valhalla).

Noun

borrowed from Middle French & Anglo-French galop, noun derivative of galoper "to gallop entry 1"; replacing Middle English walop, borrowed from Anglo-French walop, galop

Note: Alternatively, the noun could be original, and the verb a derivative of the noun. See note at gallop entry 1.

Keep scrolling for more