脱だっ兎とのごとく

also: だっとのごとき

だ

っ

と

の

ご

と

く

Meanings

expression, adverb

at high speed; as fast as one can; with lightning speed

Literary set phrase meaning 'with the speed of a fleeing rabbit'; used to describe extremely swift movement or action.

Kanji

脱undress, removing, escape from
兎rabbit, hare
如likeness, like, such as

Related words

脱だっ兎と
脱兎 is the noun meaning 'fleeing rabbit'; 脱兎のごとく is the adverbial phrase built from it.
疾しっ風ぷう迅じん雷らい
疾風迅雷 is a four-character compound meaning 'with lightning speed', more formal and less figurative than 脱兎のごとく.

Written forms

脱だっ兎とのごとく
Standard kanji form using ごとく; the most common written variant.
脱だっ兎との如ごとく
Variant using the kanji 如 for ごとく; slightly more formal or literary.
脱だっ兎とのごとき
Attributive form (連体形) used before nouns; included for search coverage.
脱だっ兎との如ごとき
Attributive form with kanji 如; included for search coverage.

Etymology

From 脱兎 (datto, 'fleeing rabbit') + の (genitive particle) + ごとく (classical adverbial form of ごとし, 'like'). The phrase literally means 'like a fleeing rabbit' and is used as a simile for extreme speed.