Tally-ho is the traditional cry made by the huntsman to tell others the

quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mining, open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock (geology), rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some juri ...

has been sighted. It may also be used with directions, including "away" and "back". First used in

fox-hunting Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase and, if caught, the killing of a fox, traditionally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds. A group of unarmed followers, led by a "master of foxhounds" (or "master of h ...

, it was adapted in the 19th century to describe some horse-drawn vehicles and in the 20th century to advise of enemy aircraft and space junk.

Etymology

Tally-ho dates from around 1772, and is probably derived from the French ''taïaut'', a cry used to excite hounds when hunting deer."Merriam-Webster Dictionary - Tallyho"
''Merriam-Webster Dictionary''. Referenced May 19, 2008. Taïaut may have originated in the second half of the 13th century by the concatenation of a two-word war-cry: ''taille haut''. "Taille" is the cutting edge of a sword and "haut" means high or 'raised up'. So the original meaning might be something close to "Swords up!".
Taïaut
,
Centre National de Ressources Textuelles et Lexicales
'

Usage

Fox-hunting

The cry was made by the huntsman on catching sight of the fox to alert other members of the

hunt Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/ hide, bone/tusks, horn/antler, ...

.
It has been used in similar circumstances for quite different quarries:

RAF

It was used by

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

fighter pilots in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

to tell their controller they were about to engage enemy aircraft. It was also used to announce to the squadron leader (or other person of command in the flight) the spotting of an enemy aircraft.

Royal Navy

The

British T-class submarine The Royal Navy's T class (or ''Triton'' class) of diesel-electric submarines was designed in the 1930s to replace the O, P, and R classes. Fifty-three members of the class were built just before and during the Second World War, where they pl ...

HMS ''Tally-Ho'' was named after the hunting cry. It is the only vessel to bear the name. It was launched in 1942 and scrapped in 1967.

NASA

"Tally-ho" is also used by NASA astronauts in audio transmissions to signify sightings of other spacecraft, space stations, and unidentified objects. John Charles Maggs - The Mail Coach

Horse-drawn vehicles

A fast

stagecoach A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are dra ...

named ''Tally-ho'' plied the between

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...

and

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

from 1823. Other fast coaches began to use the same name and it became a common description of a fast coach.

United States

Tally-Ho by Briggs Carriage Co Amesbury Massachusetts (cropped)

In the United States, "tally-ho" can describe a large coach or a light passenger vehicle without roof or sides used for sight-seeing.Tally-ho, noun, 2b. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' online accessed 31 March 2018

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tally-Ho English phrases Hunting with hounds Fox hunting Royal Air Force