Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
noun
- Goyathlay, 1829–1909, American Apache Indian chief.
interjection
- (a battle cry used by paratroopers, especially during World War II, on jumping from a plane.)
noun
- 1829–1909, Apache Indian chieftain: led a campaign against the White settlers until his final capture in 1886
interjection
- US a shout given by paratroopers as they jump into battle
- an exclamation expressing exhilaration, esp when jumping from a great height
cry made in jumping, apparently from the story of the Apache leader Geronimo making a daring leap to escape U.S. cavalry pursuers at Medicine Bluffs, Oklahoma (and supposedly shouting his name in defiance as he did). Adopted as battle cry by 82nd Airborne U.S. paratroopers in World War II, who perhaps had seen it in the 1939 Paramount Studios movie “Geronimo.” The name is the Italian and Spanish form of Jerome, from Greek Hieronomos, literally “sacred name.”
An Apache leader of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A brave and unrelenting warrior, Geronimo was among the last to lead Native Americans against white settlers. He took to farming at the end of his life.