Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adv. At full gallop; at top speed.
- n. A hunting cry.
- n. A fast, furious gallop; top speed.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Swiftly; rapidly; at full speed.
- Swift; rapid; hasty; on the rush.
- n. A hunting cry, inciting to speed or denoting full chase.
- n. A rapid, violent movement; a gallop; a rush; a torrent.
- n. A High-church Tory of about the time of James II.
- To hurry off.
Wiktionary
- adv. obsolete At full tilt
- n. obsolete A rapid gallop
- n. informal The sound of a hunting horn in imitation of a galloping horse
GNU Webster's 1913
- adv. Swiftly; speedily; rapidly; -- a fox-hunting term.
- n. A rapid, violent gallop; an impetuous rush.
- v. colloq. To go away in haste.
Etymologies
- 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.”
“He says that an ambitious tantivy, [2] missing of his towering hopes of preferment in”
“He was of a nature to ride tantivy into anything that promised excitement or adventure.”
“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.”
“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.”
“Is it strange that I became known as the wildest tantivy boy that rode with the King?”
“In the common-room one day sat as merry a company of carousers as ever gladdened the soul of an old tantivy boy.”
“The wild tantivy boy had vanished, and the sobriquet of "Tavern Knight" was fast becoming”
“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.”
“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?”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘tantivy’.
-
phrontistery-t
from phrontistery.info
tabacosis, tabanid, tabaret, tabati?re, tabby, tabefaction, tabellary, tabellion, tabernacle, tabernacular, tabescent, tabific and 930 more...
-
Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11250 more...
-
Hunting cries
tantara, yoicks, tantivy, tallyho, chivvy, hoics, tally-ho, chivy, chevy, soho, hue, halloo and 15 more...
-
motley assortment
a motley crew of words i enjoy
sense datum sensa..., sense datum, sens..., sense datum, sensate, potete, golpe, herrero, sapidity, synaesthesia, cicisbeo, dandiprat, faineant and 19 more...
-
All The Words
I enjoy collecting words, for I have no fear of them ever running out.
anacoluthon, defenestration, hypnopomp, hypnagogue, idioglossia, panopticon, tatterdemalion, abalone, caltrop, miasma, paroxysm, smalt and 491 more...
-
SoSheShall's list
slurp, coeur, slurple, glop, perp, fluarxx, ropechno, herrherr, burrduhherrherr, sloppy, cheezie balls, eccentric and 634 more...
-
summer words 2009
how many words can I make mine this summer?
largess, hoyden, catholic, fornicatress, quean, slattern, bildungsroman, sybaritic, descresent, nodus, frittle, callipygian and 529 more...
-
wunderkammer's Words
smarmy, bubkes, elucidate, togs, aeolian, carp, kibosh, bosky, ramshackle, mange, harpy, effervesce and 163 more...
-
beatricks's Words
tremendous, naiad, thrush, samsara, thronging, nascent, broom, aristeia, streak, susurrant, reverberate, resistentialism and 352 more...
-
vorpal's Words
parabiosis, penumbra, defenestrate, portmanteau, sturm und drang, perspicacious, quixotic, copacetic, obfuscate, inveigle, shadenfreude, cloister and 349 more...
-
my words
interminable, effete, convocation, philistines, malaise, foibles, deputation, anathematized, morass, stalwart, proselytize, abet and 405 more...
-
learning
A list of words whose meanings I am learning, either because a) I don't know the meaning b) I know the meaning, but could stand to better appreciate certain inflections or secondary meanings or c) ...
louche, educe, loam, cob, sclerotic, palliate, axial, syndicalist, ecumenical, sally, fatuous, parvenu and 1387 more...
-
favorite words
sawbones, grackle, celadon, brio, loam, trull, mint, saliva, serape, frisson, impasto, reek and 557 more...
-
Papageno's Words, Pt. I
hobbledehoy, absquatulate, chthonic, prolix, ululate, internecine, verisimilitude, animadversion, concupiscence, vertiginous, cucullate, lucubrate and 1554 more...
-
EN - funny (single) words
"Fornication" is not equal to "formication".
Words with funny meaning, spelling or both.barratry, bastinado, bezonian, bibcock, bibliobibuli, biffy, bodewash, boeotian, boondoggle, borborygmic, bosky, brobdingnagian and 729 more...
-
Smart Words
polysemy, dichotomy, metonymy, parapraxis, synecdoche, prosopopeia, mimesis, schadenfreude, pulchritudinous, neolithic, limn, phantasmagoric and 138 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for tantivy.

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