stampede
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /stæmˈpiːd/
ipa: /stæmˈpid/
rhymes: -iːd
Forms: form: stampedes
Etymology: The noun is derived from Mexican Spanish estampida (“a stampede”), from Spanish estampida, estampido (“a bang, a crack (sound)”), from Old Occitan estampida, from Gothic *𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌼𐍀𐌾𐌰𐌽 (*stampjan), from Proto-Germanic *stampōną (“to compress, squeeze; to stamp”), from Proto-Indo-European *stembʰ- (“to trample down”).
The verb is derived from the noun.
Senses: examples: text: [T]hey saw a herd of deer reposing, who, on their appearance, rose from their recumbent position, and began to gaze warily at the strangers; then, tossing their horne, they set off on a stampede, but only swept round, and settled down not far from where they were.
ref: a. 1865 (date written), Nathaniel Hawthorne, chapter XVIII, in Julian Hawthorne, editor, Doctor Grimshawe’s Secret: A Romance […], Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, published 1883, →OCLC, page 227:
text: Then, like a stream of white bees pouring from a huge swarm, the steers stretched out from the main body. In a few moments, with astonishing rapidity, the whole herd got into motion. […] "It's a stampede, an' a hummer," said Lassiter. […] ["]That stampede will pass within a mile of us."
ref: 1912 January, Zane Grey, “The Mill-wheel of Steers”, in Riders of the Purple Sage […], New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC, page 78:
synonyms: crush
flight
jam
rush
stampedo
trampling
glosses: A wild, headlong running away or scamper of a number of animals, usually caused by fright.
examples: text: The annual Muslim Hajj in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, which is attended by millions of pilgrims, has increasingly suffered from stampedes.
text: Say, Smoke, this ain't no stampede. It's a exode-us. They must be a thousand men ahead of us an' ten thousand behind.
ref: 1912 October, Jack London, “The Stampede to Squaw Creek”, in Smoke Bellew, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co, →OCLC, page 75:
text: I asked the conductor if he would ask Chester to hold the 16.35 to Euston—the last through train on a Saturday—but he said Virgin won't hold anything. We came to a stand at Chester at 16.35, and there was a sizeable stampede down the platform for the London train, but it had gone.
ref: 2019 October, Chris Stokes, “Between the Lines”, in Modern Railways, Shepperton, Surrey: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 97:
synonyms: crush
rush
glosses: A situation in which many people in a crowd are trying to move in the same direction at the same time, especially in consequence of a panic.
glosses: An event at which cowboy skills are displayed; a rodeo.
examples: text: a stampede toward US bonds in the credit markets
text: So all the people, Sheila learned that night, were going away from London; and soon she and her husband would join in the general stampede of the very last dwellers in town.
ref: 1873, William Black, “Sheila’s Stratagem”, in A Princess of Thule. […], New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers, →OCLC, page 299:
text: When the Credit Suisse's top investor, Saudi National Bank, told reporters last Wednesday it would not give more money to the bank, investors and depositors started a stampede for the exit, withdrawing hundreds of millions of dollars.
ref: 2023 March 22, Philip Oltermann, “Switzerland's national pride dealt heavy blow by the merger of its banking titans”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 07 Nov 2023:
glosses: A sudden unconcerted acting together of a number of persons due to, or as if due to, some common impulse.
Derived terms: cache stampede