tantivy

adv.
At full gallop; at top speed.

n., pl., -ies.

1. A hunting cry.
2. A fast, furious gallop; top speed.

[Origin unknown.]

(tan-TIV-ee)

adverb
At full gallop; at full speed.

noun
A fast gallop; rush.

adjective
Swift.
interjection
A hunting cry by a hunter riding a horse at full speed. [Of obscure origin, perhaps from the sound of a galloping horse's feet.

Usage
"But both the book and the exhibit show clearly that along with these changes in diet, sport and exercise had an early start and a long run among the tangled tantivy of 19th-century cures, cons, leeches, preachers, drugs, zaps, baths, diets, teetotaling, indoor plumbing, ventilation, and `Spanish Nerve Grains' that stampeded Americans into our current obsession with fitness." — Christina Robb, Exercists America's Longtime Pursuit of Fitness, The Boston Globe, Mar 13, 1988.

---

[adv] in a headlong dash
[n] 1) a rapid gallop 2) the blare of a trumpet or horn, as at a fox hunt