Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- interj. Used to urge hounds on during a fox hunt.
- v. To urge (hounds) on during a fox hunt by shouting "tallyho” when the fox is sighted.
- v. To shout "tallyho” as a hunting cry.
- n. The cry of "tallyho.”
- n. A fast coach drawn by four horses.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- A hunting cry: a mere exclamation.
- n. A cry of “Tally-ho.” See the interjection.
- n. A name for a mail-coach or a four-in-hand pleasure coach; by extension, in the United States, a general name for such coaches.
- To urge or excite, as hounds, by crying “Tally-ho.”
Wiktionary
- interj. used to urge on a fox hunt, especially when the fox is sighted.
- interj. a simple greeting, exclusively used by the upper classes.
- n. the interjection.
- v. to articulate the interjection.
GNU Webster's 1913
- interj. The huntsman's cry to incite or urge on his hounds.
- interj. A tallyho coach.
Etymologies
- Probably alteration of French taïaut, from Old French thialau, taho.
Examples
“Depressingly, the signs are that he is to be unleashed again as the Tories cry tallyho against the new treaty.”
“When the “tallyho” call was made, the game was on.”
“Except for a few seconds on the dive-bomb run itself, he must maintain tallyho, or visual contact with all his flight-mates.”
Thud Ridge
“He flies a gate beyant any living sowl I iver seed, and his tallyho, my jewel -- 'twould do y'er heart good to hear his tallyho!" said my lord's huntsman.”
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 14, No. 387, August 28, 1829
“We went out to Jarvis field on a tallyho from Boston, and I recall how eagerly we dashed upon the field, anxious for the scrap to begin.”
Football Days Memories of the Game and of the Men behind the Ball
“Lithuanians, and Slovaks, and took them all outside, where stood a great four-horse tallyho coach, with fifteen or twenty men already in it.”
“When the successful players returned to Charlottesville, the whole student body met them on their arrival at the station, and drew them in a tallyho to the Corner amid Roman shouts of triumph.”
“The old members travelled to Lambeth Field in a tallyho to attend the game, while the initiates followed in an ambulance.”
“The low, sweet lure to Heaven, and the tallyho to hell!”
The Ivory Trail
“Deep in Leinster street by Trinity's postern a loyal king's man, Hornblower, touched his tallyho cap.”
brtom "Stephen with hat ashplant frogsplits in middle highkicks with skykicking mouth shut hand clasp part under thigh, with clang tinkle boomhammer tallyho horn blower blue green yellow flashes." Joyce, Ulysses, 15 Jan 1, 2008