gazelle

name

1. A census-designated place in Siskiyou County, California, United States.

noun

Etymology: Unadapted borrowing from Middle French gazelle, from Old French gazel, from Arabic غَزَال (ḡazāl).

1. An antelope of either of the genera Gazella (mostly native to Africa), Procapra (native to Asia), Eudorcas, or Nanger, capable of running at high speeds for long periods.

   ““One does not judge the gazelle by the lions that attack it,” replied Tarzan.”

verb

Etymology: Unadapted borrowing from Middle French gazelle, from Old French gazel, from Arabic غَزَال (ḡazāl).

1. To leap like a gazelle.

   “And all of the pine trees were in a bad state of repair, owning charred stumps of arms and blasted heads. Quite a number of them were dead; some of the corpses leaned starkly back in the arms of a live brother, but most of them preferred to fall across the road. Owing to this the car was soon gazelling again.”

   “The biplane gazelled into the air.”

2. To go fast; to speed; to rush.

   “Nadezhda and I biked over together, me dressed in colonial whites, trundling along with other cyclists gazelling by me on both sides […]”

   “I actually heard the air move as about five people gazelled towards Lord Mandelson to try to stop another of his ill-timed leaks.”