ventre à terreadv.
/ˌvɒntrə ə ˈtɛː/ a. In the posture assumed (esp. in sporting prints) by a horse at full gallop; hence at full speed, ‘all out’. Also attributive.
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the world > movement > rate of motion > swiftness > swiftly [phrase] > at full speed
full speed1382
with topsailc1400
at spursa1500
on (also upon) the (spurs or) spur1525
amain1555
a main pace (also speed)1567
full tilt?a1600
upon full stretch1697
at full tilt1713
at (also on) full speed1749
(at) full split1836
full chisel1837
(at) full pelt1841
full swing1843
ventre à terre1848
full out1886
at full lick1889
hell-for-leather1889
all out1895
eyes out1895
flat out1932
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > horse defined by speed or gait > [adverb] > at a gallop
a (also the) great wallopa1375
agallop1548
at (formerly also on, upon, in, with) a gallop1645
ventre à terre1848
1848 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair liii. 476 I instantly called for the carriage, and..drove ventre à terre to Nathan's.
1867 ‘Ouida’ Under Two Flags I. xiii. 302 You know what the Arabs are... They..pick up their sabre from the ground, while their horse is galloping ventre à terre.
1918 G. B. Shaw in F. Harris Oscar Wilde II. 28 To be called on to gallop ventre à terre to Erith.
1947 J. Stevenson-Hamilton Wild Life S. Afr. xxii. 170 He [sc. a charging lion] goes not in a series of bounds, but at a ventre à terre gallop, and incredibly fast.
1974 Country Life 2 May 1059/1 His personal progression from the 19th-century ventre à terre animal motion—à la Herring and Pollard—to the transverse and rotatory images.
1977 ‘E. Crispin’ Glimpses of Moon xi. 223 Man and horse..went on to gallop almost ventre à terre in the direction of the hedge.
b. Lying on one's stomach, prone.
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the world > space > relative position > posture > action or fact of lying down or reclining > [adverb] > prostrate or face down
groofc1374
on grufe (rarely on the grufe)c1375
grovellingsa1400
grovellingc1400
agroofc1425
womblonga1475
grovellingly1548
prostrately1556
grovellingwise1561
flatlong1570
pronely1578
on one's grufe1788
ventre à terre1960
1960 Times 18 July 15/4 Down at the firing point they formed a line ventre à terre.
1968 Economist 27 Jan. 4/3 The Cresta, which is run by the St. Moritz Toboggan Club, on which the rider uses a skeleton, or the bob run in which the bobsleigh crew descend either ventre à terre or sitting up.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1986; most recently modified version published online September 2018).
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adv.1848