1A sudden panicked rush of a number of horses, cattle, or other animals.

1. 1.1 A sudden rapid movement or reaction of a mass of people in response to a particular circumstance or stimulus.
   a stampede of bargain hunters

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Fighting and shooting broke out, triggering a panicked stampede in which several people were trampled to death.
   • Back at the Cafe Kronborg as the crowd built up, the smells of the food put an edge to the appetite, until the normal food rush became a stampede.
   • Shortly after they opened the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883, a rumour about its imminent collapse triggered a panicked stampede that killed 12 people.
   • Soon, adult voices began calling out to each other, and the girls backed against the wall of the candy shop to avoid a sudden stampede.
   • This memory came just in time, enabling her to dive out of the way to avoid being immediately trampled by the sudden stampede of the rest of the Callisto family into the kitchen.
   • Their release created a stampede of users to Windows Update, resulting in slow response times yesterday.
   • Jonine ducked behind me, her chin bumping into my shoulder as a sudden stampede of underclassmen came pushing past from the other direction.
   • I think the correct description is that a lot of the financial analysts are essentially herd animals, and they follow the stampede in whichever direction it's going.
   • The way film-makers have grappled with that challenge - first avoiding it, then rushing at it in a collective stampede - is not just a story about the evolution of the cinema.
   • They lost the child in a stampede of people rushing to higher ground.
   • So you need to buy it right away and avoid the stampede of enthused blog readers who will undoubtedly rush to order the book now!
   • In a climate of fad diets and food fears, the soy market has thrived on the stampede away from animal foods - in this case, real milk and real meat.
   • Brands took to the mountains, bike trails, ski slopes and other destinations in a stampede of marketers trying to flee the clutter of the mass market.
   • A section of fencing was broken down and advertising hoardings flattened in the stampede as rival fans charged from end to end of the pitch.
   • It was like a cattle mart; stampedes of young people pulling, pushing and shoving each other.
   • Property developers are rushing to release high-end flats in the wake of the stampede for units at Henderson Land Development's Grand Promenade project.
   • Without warning, there was a sudden stampede running full pelt up from the disaster site, men and women in fatigues, burly construction workers, firemen in bunker gear.
   • So popular he is that people, young and old, rush in a stampede to collect a baseball hat bearing his name and signatures of his trainer and jockey.
   • Flames quickly surrounded hundreds of revellers packed inside the tiny dance club, triggering a stampede to escape, fire officials said.
   • There were reports of desperate stampedes as people rushed to get off trains and out of stations.
2. 1.2often in names (in North America) a rodeo.
   the Calgary Stampede

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Only the top 10 cowboys and cowgirls in each event survive the Wrangler ProRodeo Tour and the Ariat Playoffs to compete at the 8th annual Texas Stampede and the Wrangler ProRodeo Tour Championship.
   • For 20 years, "those girls on horses" have entertained crowds at the Greeley Stampede.

1(of horses, cattle, or other animals) rush wildly in a sudden mass panic.

1. 1.1no object, with adverbial of direction (of people) move rapidly in a mass.
   the children stampeded through the kitchen, playing tag or hide-and-seek

   Example sentencesExamples

   • The elves all swept him away as they stampeded down the tamped dirt road.
   • Survivors and Argentine officials say a flare sparked the blaze that sent thousands of people stampeding for the exits.
   • Collectors are stampeding to collect landscapes, wildlife paintings, pictures of horses, cattle images of Native American culture.
   • Everyone stampeded out of the classroom before Mr. Humphries could give them their English homework.
   • You know, part of it, too, is that they don't want to deal with having to go into a public courthouse, where the cameras are trained on them and people are stampeding down the hallways.
   • The people quickly discerned the situation and tried to flee in all directions, stampeding over one another in their attempts to escape.
   • Bargains or no bargains, in truth British shoppers are hardly stampeding onto US bound flights at present.
   • Chaos erupted yesterday morning at Richmond International Raceway as people stampeded through the gates in a rush to buy used iBook laptops for $50 each.
   • The final bell rang and a herd of students rushed out of the classroom, stampeding towards their rides home.
   • When he was done, the actors began stampeding out of the theater like buffalo.
   • Video footage taken inside the club showed flames licking at foam insulation behind the stage, which erupted into a fast-moving fire that sent fans stampeding for the exits.
   • This cheap cartoon series has caused a knee-high gold rush, as children stampede to spend their monthly allowance (once known as pocket money) on the cult.
   • The try sent the Bulls fans stampeding for the exits.
   • People panicked and stampeded, blows rained down, people fell and hurt themselves in the melee.
   • There were long but thankfully hilarious speeches and seemingly hundreds of little kids fluttering, pushing and stampeding through adult legs in the semi-darkness.
   • As he looks into their eyes he shakes their courage and many flee, stampeding like beasts.
   • In a flash, six national diary-trade groups stampeded into federal court, with a whole herd of lawyers to stop the state from implementing this law.
   • What remained of the Orcs stampeded out to greet them, their rusty weapons held high.
   • So the big hog feeders and pork processors stampeded to Washington, demanding that members of Congress do something to ‘save their bacon.’
   • Chinese couples had stampeded to get hitched before the Year of the Horse started last week, spooked by a cosmological sign that the coming lunar year bodes ill for newlyweds.
2. 1.2with object Cause (people or animals) to stampede.
   the raiders stampeded 200 mules

   figurative don't let them stampede us into anything

   Example sentencesExamples

   • The citizenry of Arlington was stampeded into approving a ½ cent sales tax to build the thing back in the mid-'90s after the Rangers began threatening to depart.
   • Rumour has it that some young and not so young poetic ladies stampeded the local Multi Media Centre during the week to create their own Valentine cards.
   • Forged discharge papers, wildebeests stampeding patrols - these tales are told casually around campfires and on drives across the veldt.
   • Pádraig Murphy and Brian Murphy ruled the roost at midfield, while each of their forwards got their name on the scoresheet as they stampeded their way to glory.
   • At the beginning of the week local animals were stampeded and traumatised and as a result one cow - a heifer, died.
   • We all get, sort of, stampeded these days, because, well, it was on the Internet, it was on this cable network, it was in this alternative newspaper, it's out there, we've got to report it.
   • It is the fourth year the event has been staged in Pamplona in protest against the treatment of bulls, who are stampeded through the streets, prior to the bullfights in which they will be killed.
   • American moviegoers stampeded box offices, spending over US $200 million on admissions.
   • It is the kind of appeal that bypasses proper evaluation and assessment, and stampedes the decision-making process.
   • Early in the battle, the advancing Sioux stampeded their horses.
   • Rankin said: ‘There were suggestions that I had been stampeded into signing the letter, but that's nonsense.’
   • Crowds of shoppers stampede their supermarkets.
   • There are people stampeded into that kind of a conclusion based on these phony polls.
   • Well first of all, I would like to know what those things were that stampeded the garden.
   • Prison guards from the front and back stampeded their way to Diamond Joe and piled on top of him and the Slug until they formed two mounds of blue-uniformed bodies on top of the assailants.
   • The sound of chairs dragging across the floor filled the classroom; the mob of students stampeding their way to freedom from the confinements of school.
   • Once they tried to drive a herd of several hundred ponies through the line to disrupt and stampede the pack animals, but the attempt failed.
   • I think dogs have been in and stampeded them and not let up until they were in the water.
   • I think we're doing the wrong thing, however, in letting ourselves be stampeded into taking action now.
   • The Senate rejected a comparable measure in 1998, but in the current hysteria it could be stampeded into upholding the House's ignorant new law.