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  1. tantivy love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. adv. At full gallop; at top speed.
  2. n. A hunting cry.
  3. n. A fast, furious gallop; top speed.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. Swiftly; rapidly; at full speed.
  2. Swift; rapid; hasty; on the rush.
  3. n. A hunting cry, inciting to speed or denoting full chase.
  4. n. A rapid, violent movement; a gallop; a rush; a torrent.
  5. n. A High-church Tory of about the time of James II.
  6. To hurry off.

Wiktionary

  1. adv. obsolete At full tilt
  2. n. obsolete A rapid gallop
  3. n. informal The sound of a hunting horn in imitation of a galloping horse

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. adv. Swiftly; speedily; rapidly; -- a fox-hunting term.
  2. n. A rapid, violent gallop; an impetuous rush.
  3. v. colloq. To go away in haste.

Etymologies

  1. Origin unknown. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “These martial strains seemed as far away as Palestine, and reminded me of a march of crusaders in the horizon, with a slight tantivy and tremulous motion of the elm tree tops which overhang the village.”

    Walden

  • “He says that an ambitious tantivy, [2] missing of his towering hopes of preferment in”

    The Journal to Stella

  • “He was of a nature to ride tantivy into anything that promised excitement or adventure.”

    Australia Felix

  • “Rather than face death and the death-fear, in an attempt to flee the unfleeable he had thrown every other consideration to the winds, and ridden tantivy into the unknown.”

    Ultima Thule

  • “Ten minutes later, everyone was back in their seats and Tom, who had purloined the horn from the long basket attached to the side of the guard's seat, blew a tantivy into the night and Duncan, muffled from neck to heels in the big coat, set the horses in motion.”

    The Last Gamble

  • “Is it strange that I became known as the wildest tantivy boy that rode with the King?”

    The Tavern Knight

  • “In the common-room one day sat as merry a company of carousers as ever gladdened the soul of an old tantivy boy.”

    The Tavern Knight

  • “The wild tantivy boy had vanished, and the sobriquet of "Tavern Knight" was fast becoming”

    The Tavern Knight

  • “He says that an ambitious tantivy, [2] missing of his towering hopes of preferment in Ireland, is come over to vent his spleen on the late Ministry, etc.”

    The Journal to Stella

  • “How does it come that a few short hours later we find him galloping tantivy over the dusty hills, no less than two hundred miles, as the birds fly, from the counter railing of welcomings?”

    Empire Builders

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Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘tantivy’.

Comments

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  • reesetee I did too, trivet. The things you learn here.... Nov 21, 2007

  • yarb Also a character in "Gravity's Rainbow". Nov 21, 2007

  • trivet I always thought it was the sound a hunting horn makes. Nov 21, 2007

  • reesetee "Tantivy, tantivy, tantivy, a-hunting we will go." Nov 21, 2007

  • oroboros At a full gallop; top speed. Given as a crossword puzzle clue for apace. Nov 21, 2007

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‘tantivy’ has been looked up 1953 times, loved by 6 people, added to 27 lists, commented on 5 times, and has a Scrabble score of 13.