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—galloper, n./gal"euhp/, v.i.1. to ride a horse at a gallop; ride at full speed: They galloped off to meet their friends.2. to run rapidly by leaps, as a horse; go at a gallop.3. to go fast, race, or hurry, as a person or time.v.t.4. to cause (a horse or other animal) to gallop.n.5. a fast gait of the horse or other quadruped in which, in the course of each stride, all four feet are off the ground at once.6. a run or ride at this gait.7. a rapid rate of going.8. a period of going rapidly.[1375-1425; late ME galopen (v.) < OF galoper < Frankish *wala hlaupan to run well (see WELL1, LEAP) or, alternatively, v. deriv. of *walhlaup, equiv. to *wal battlefield (c. OHG wal; see VALKYRIE) + *hlaup run, course (deriv. of the v.)]Syn. 3. run, rush, dash, speed, fly, scoot.
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▪ animal locomotionaccelerated canter in which the rider's weight is brought sharply forward as the horse reaches speeds up to 30 miles (50 km) an hour.At the gallop, which usually averages 12 miles (20 km) an hour, the reins are held more loosely than at the canter, and the horse carries his head relatively high.The gallop, which is a horse's fastest gait, is usually a three-beat pace: the horse comes down first on one hind leg, then, simultaneously, on the diagonally opposite foreleg and the other hind leg, and finally on the other foreleg. A brief period of suspension, during which all four legs are off the ground, follows this sequence.There may be four beats in an extended gallop, or run—the gait featured in cross-country riding, in polo, in working with cattle, and in track racing.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
