Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A sudden frenzied rush of panic-stricken animals.
  • noun A sudden headlong rush or flight of a crowd of people.
  • noun A mass impulsive action.
  • intransitive verb To cause (a herd of animals) to flee in panic.
  • intransitive verb To cause (a person or group) to act impulsively.
  • intransitive verb To trample in a stampede.
  • intransitive verb To flee or rush in a stampede.
  • intransitive verb To act on mass impulse.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A sudden fright seizing upon large bodies of cattle or horses, and causing them to run for long distances; a sudden scattering of a herd of cattle or horses; hence, any sudden flight or general movement, as of an army, in consequence of a panic.
  • noun Any sudden unconcerted movement of a number of persons actuated by a common impulse: as, a stampede in a political convention for a candidate who seems likely to win. Stampedes in American polities have been common since the Democratic convention of 1844.
  • To become generally panic-stricken; take suddenly to flight, as if under the influence of a panic; scamper off in fright: said of herds or droves.
  • To move together, or take the same line of conduct, under the influence of any sudden and common impulse. See stampede, n., 2.
  • To cause to break and run as if panic-stricken; disperse or drive off suddenly through panic or terror.
  • To cause to move or act in a mass through some sudden common impulse: as, to stampede a political convention for a candidate.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A wild, headlong scamper, or running away, of a number of animals; usually caused by fright; hence, any sudden flight or dispersion, as of a crowd or an army in consequence of a panic.
  • noun Any sudden unconcerted moving or acting together of a number of persons, as from some common impulse; ; a stampede toward U. S. bonds in the credit markets.
  • intransitive verb To run away in a panic; -- said of droves of cattle, horses, etc., also of armies.
  • transitive verb To disperse by causing sudden fright, as a herd or drove of animals.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A wild, headlong scamper, or running away, of a number of animals; usually caused by fright; hence, any sudden flight or dispersion, as of a crowd or an army in consequence of a panic.
  • noun A situation in which many people in a crowd are trying to go in the same direction at the same time.
  • verb intransitive To run away in a panic; said of cattle, horses, etc., also of armies.
  • verb transitive To disperse by causing sudden fright, as a herd or drove of animals.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb cause to run in panic
  • verb act, usually en masse, hurriedly or on an impulse
  • verb cause a group or mass of people to act on an impulse or hurriedly and impulsively
  • noun a wild headlong rush of frightened animals (horses or cattle)
  • noun a headlong rush of people on a common impulse
  • verb run away in a stampede

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Spanish estampida, uproar, stampede, from Provençal, from estampir, to stamp, of Germanic origin; akin to Middle English stampen, to pound, stamp.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Spanish estampida (in America) a stampede, estampido a crackling, akin to estampar to stamp, of German origin.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word stampede.

Examples

  • The ethanol stampede is contributing to a sugar shortage.

    Jack Bog's Blog: August 2009 Archives 2009

  • Northland Scripture, the stampede is to the swift, the blazing of stakes to the strong, and the Crown in royalties, gathers to itself the fulness thereof.

    TOO MUCH GOLD 2010

  • Northland Scripture, the stampede is to the swift, the blazing of stakes to the strong, and the Crown in royalties, gathers to itself the fulness thereof.

    Too Much Gold 2010

  • The ethanol stampede is contributing to a sugar shortage.

    No Snickers bars? Blame Peak Oil (Jack Bog's Blog) 2009

  • As the cattle continued their short-term stampede, campus cops intervened and inexplicably held Kotran against his will.

    Dan Reimold: College Media Censorship: Year in Review 2010

  • And the cure for the panic stampede is to be found in historical perspective.

    SXSW notes: Bruce Sterling Presentation – The State Of The World « Innovation Cloud 2007

  • And the cure for the panic stampede is to be found in historical perspective.

    February « 2007 « Innovation Cloud 2007

  • That is one of the reasons that the revolutionary movement occurred -- the reason of a stampede from the front -- and it is quite possible that the Germans have been shrewd enough to realize that it was quite well to give time for that to happen, for some disintegrating force to take place.

    Russia 1917

  • Northland Scripture, the stampede is to the swift, the blazing of stakes to the strong, and the Crown, in royalties, gathers to itself the fulness thereof.

    Too Much Gold 1904

  • People mourn victims in German stampede Chinese consulate-general confirms one female citizen killed in German stampede Death toll of German stampede rises to 19, over 300 injured The stampede took place shortly after 5 pm Saturday as people were jostling with each other in an entrance tunnel to a former freight rail station in the western German city of Duisburg, where the event was being held.

    WN.com - Articles related to Germany plans memorial for music festival victims 2010

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • A crush of many-legged philatelists.

    December 5, 2007