Meaning

noun a fast gait of a horse; a two-beat stride during which all four legs are off the ground simultaneously

verb ride at a galloping pace

verb go at galloping speed

originFrom Middle English galopen (“to gallop”), from Old French galoper (compare modern French galoper), from Frankish *wala hlaupan (“to run well”), from *wala (“well”) + *hlaupan (“to run”), from Proto-Germanic *hlaupaną (“to run, leap, spring”), from Proto-Indo-European *klaup-, *klaub- (“to spring, stumble”). Possibly also derived from a deverbal of Frankish *walhlaup (“battle run”) from *wal…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0