stampede

☆ stam·pede (stam pēd′)

noun

a sudden, headlong running away of a group of frightened animals, esp. horses or cattle
a confused, headlong rush or flight of a large group of people
any sudden, impulsive, spontaneous mass movement a stampede to support a candidate

Etymology: AmSp estampida < Sp, a crash, uproar < estampar, to stamp < Gmc *stampjan, stamp

intransitive verb -·ped′ed, -·ped′·ing

to move, or take part, in a stampede

transitive verb

to cause to stampede
to make a headlong charge at or upon as a group panicked patrons stampeded the exits

stam·ped′er noun

Object

herd: W Leon Smith When principles stampede the herd British Journalism Review Vol.
horse: The dogs rushed to get into the house and the horses stampeded to the far side of the property.
elephant: The guitars still sound like a herd of stampeding elephants and the percussion is meatier than Spam.
buffalo: For over two thousand years, Indians stampeded buffalo over the mile-long cliff.
cattle: The cattle stampeded and the cowboys rode in an opposite direction.

Converse of object

cause: Dodging a charging cheetah or causing an elephant stampede is just a typical afternoon for tiny Tarzan!
join: This will be telling you to join the stampede of people rushing to the bar to order their last drink of the evening!
start: He gave them a wide berth, but the 2 guys a little distance in front ran very close and nearly started a stampede.
ensue: In the ensuing folk rock stampede, Vanguard never did reap the huge folk rock sales of Columbia or even its indie rival Elektra.
spark: Last week, several hundred Shia pilgrims in Baghdad were killed in a stampede sparked by rumors of a suicide bomber in their midst.
lead: Supermarkets corral Brazilian beef to lead stampede for bigger profits.

Adjective modifier

wild: When Team Rocket show up to cause trouble - the Exeggutor go on a wild stampede!

Modifying Another Word

regularly: The German horses turned round terrified and regularly stampeded.
back: I felt the old pangs of blinkered rationalization stampeding back to me like the Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Noun used with modifier

cattle: In the dry, conditions resemble a cattle stampede, and riders struggle not to choke on the dust.
buffalo: We narrowly missed being caught in a buffalo stampede, tried herding giraffe and disturbed a leopard on its evening hunt.

Followed by a transitive particle

down: Anxious not to miss out, they bolted for the door and stampeded down the stairs... Exactly what happened next is unclear.

Preposition: of

traffic: Smartpages are highly optimized pages which draw stampeded of search engine traffic to your website....or so the sales blurb goes.
people: This will be telling you to join the stampede of people rushing to the bar to order their last drink of the evening!

Preposition: for

exit: Some move forward to intervene, others stampede for the exits.

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