stampede

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A sudden frenzied rush of panic-stricken animals.
• noun A sudden headlong rush or flight of a crowd of people.
• noun A mass impulsive action.
• intransitive verb To cause (a herd of animals) to flee in panic.
• intransitive verb To cause (a person or group) to act impulsively.
• intransitive verb To trample in a stampede.
• intransitive verb To flee or rush in a stampede.
• intransitive verb To act on mass impulse.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun A sudden fright seizing upon large bodies of cattle or horses, and causing them to run for long distances; a sudden scattering of a herd of cattle or horses; hence, any sudden flight or general movement, as of an army, in consequence of a panic.
• noun Any sudden unconcerted movement of a number of persons actuated by a common impulse: as, a stampede in a political convention for a candidate who seems likely to win. Stampedes in American polities have been common since the Democratic convention of 1844.
• To become generally panic-stricken; take suddenly to flight, as if under the influence of a panic; scamper off in fright: said of herds or droves.
• To move together, or take the same line of conduct, under the influence of any sudden and common impulse. See stampede, n., 2.
• To cause to break and run as if panic-stricken; disperse or drive off suddenly through panic or terror.
• To cause to move or act in a mass through some sudden common impulse: as, to stampede a political convention for a candidate.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun A wild, headlong scamper, or running away, of a number of animals; usually caused by fright; hence, any sudden flight or dispersion, as of a crowd or an army in consequence of a panic.
• noun Any sudden unconcerted moving or acting together of a number of persons, as from some common impulse; ; a stampede toward U. S. bonds in the credit markets.
• intransitive verb To run away in a panic; -- said of droves of cattle, horses, etc., also of armies.
• transitive verb To disperse by causing sudden fright, as a herd or drove of animals.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun A wild, headlong scamper, or running away, of a number of animals; usually caused by fright; hence, any sudden flight or dispersion, as of a crowd or an army in consequence of a panic.
• noun A situation in which many people in a crowd are trying to go in the same direction at the same time.
• verb intransitive To run away in a panic; said of cattle, horses, etc., also of armies.
• verb transitive To disperse by causing sudden fright, as a herd or drove of animals.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• verb cause to run in panic
• verb act, usually en masse, hurriedly or on an impulse
• verb cause a group or mass of people to act on an impulse or hurriedly and impulsively
• noun a wild headlong rush of frightened animals (horses or cattle)
• noun a headlong rush of people on a common impulse
• verb run away in a stampede