tantivy

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   archaic: a rapid gallop, headlong ride, or swift rushing movement

   The riders came down the lane in a reckless tantivy.

2. 2
   adv

   archaic: at full gallop or at great speed

   The courier rode tantivy through the village before dawn.

3. 3
   noun

   a hunting cry or the blaring note of a hunting horn

   A distant tantivy from the horn sent the hounds racing forward.

A seventeenth-century fox-hunting word of uncertain origin, perhaps imitative of galloping hoofbeats. Its horn-call sense may have been encouraged by confusion with tantara, an imitative word for a trumpet blast. It later broadened from riding at full gallop to any headlong rush.

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