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dragoon

noun
/dɹəˈɡuːn/UK/dɹəˈɡun/US

Etymology

The noun is borrowed from French dragon (“dragon (mythological creature); type of cavalry soldier, dragoon”) (originally referring to a soldier armed with the firearm of the same name (noun sense 1.1)), ultimately from Latin dracō (“dragon; kind of serpent or snake”), from Ancient Greek δρᾰ́κων (drắkōn, “dragon; serpent”), possibly from δέρκομαι (dérkomai, “to see, see clearly (in the sense of something staring)”), from Proto-Indo-European *derḱ- (“to see”)). Doublet of Draco, Dracon, dracone, and dragon. The verb is either derived: * from the noun; or * from French dragonner (“to force (someone) into doing something, coerce; to torment (oneself)”), from dragon (noun) (see above) + -er (suffix forming infinitives of first-conjugation verbs).

  1. derived from dragonner — “to force (someone) into doing something, coerce; to torment (oneself)”
  2. derived from *derḱ-✻ — “to see”
  3. derived from δρᾰ́κων — “dragon; serpent”
  4. derived from dracō — “dragon; kind of serpent or snake”
  5. borrowed from dragon — “dragon (mythological creature); type of cavalry soldier, dragoon”

Definitions

  1. Synonym of dragon (“a type of musket with a short, large-calibre barrel and a flared…

    Synonym of dragon (“a type of musket with a short, large-calibre barrel and a flared muzzle, metaphorically exhaling fire like a mythical dragon”).

  2. Originally (historical), a soldier armed with a dragoon musket (noun sense 1.1) who…

    Originally (historical), a soldier armed with a dragoon musket (noun sense 1.1) who fought both on foot and mounted on a horse; now, a cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets.

    • The French persecution more inhuman than ever. The Protestants in Savoy successfully resist the French dragoons sent to murder them.

  3. A man with a fierce or unrefined manner, like a dragoon (noun sense 1.2).

    • The Normans came out of France into England worse men than they went into it, one hundred and sixty years before. […] These founders of the House of Lords were greedy and ferocious dragoons, sons of greedy and ferocious pirates.
  4. ›+ 4 more definitions

    1. A variety of pigeon, originally a cross between a horseman and a tumbler.

    2. To subject (a Huguenot) to the dragonnades (“a policy instituted by Louis XIV of France…

      To subject (a Huguenot) to the dragonnades (“a policy instituted by Louis XIV of France in 1681 to intimidate Protestant Huguenots to convert to Roman Catholicism by billeting dragoons (noun sense 1.2) in their homes to abuse them and destroy or steal their possessions”).

      • This was the pious lady [Ninon de l’Enclos] who, in after times, expiated the faults of her youth by dragooning Huguenots into Catholics.

    3. Chiefly followed by into

      Chiefly followed by into: to force (someone) into doing something through harassment and intimidation; to coerce.

      • In Politicks, I hear, you're ſtanch, / Directly bent againſt the French; / Deny to have your free-born Toe / Dragoon'd into a VVooden Shoe: […]
      • [A]t any rate, he had shown Hardy that he wasn't to be dragooned into doing or not doing any thing.

    4. To cause (someone) to be attacked by dragoons.

The neighborhood

Derived

dragoonade, dragoon bird, dragooner, dragoon pigeon, dragoonable, dragoonage, dragooned, dragooning, undragooned

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for dragoon. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA