stampede

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a sudden, uncontrolled rush by a crowd of people or a group of frightened animals

   A burst of thunder sent the herd into a stampede.

2. 2
   verb

   to rush away together in panic

   The cattle stampeded when lightning struck nearby.

3. 3
   verb

   to cause people or animals to rush or act in panic

   The false alarm stampeded shoppers toward the exits.

Borrowed in the nineteenth century from Mexican Spanish estampida, 'a sudden rush or uproar,' related to Spanish estampido, 'a crash or bang.' Those forms trace through Old Occitan to a Germanic verb meaning 'to stamp.' The English verb developed from the noun.

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