dragoon
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /dɹəˈɡuːn/
ipa: /dɹəˈɡun/
ipa: /dɹæ-/
rhymes: -uːn
Forms: form: dragoons
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 (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, 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).
Senses: examples: text: [A] Lieutenant of a Troupe of compleat armed French Piſtoliers, is reputed better in degree then a Captaine of an hundred Foot, a Lieutenant of the late inuented Dragoones (being not aboue ſixteene inche Barrell, and full Muſquet bore) the Foot-Captaines equall, and the Lieutenant of a Troupe of Harquebuſsiers or Carbines his immediate younger brother.
ref: 1622, Francis Markham, “Epist[le] 5. To the Right Honorable William Lord Peter of Writtle. The Argument. Of the Captaine of Horse.”, in Five Decades of Epistles of Warre, London: […] Augustine Matthewes, →OCLC, decad 4, pages 137–138:
topics: engineering
government
military
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
politics
tools
war
weaponry
glosses: Synonym of dragon (“a type of musket with a short, large-calibre barrel and a flared muzzle, metaphorically exhaling fire like a mythical dragon”).
synonyms: word: dragon
extra: a type of musket with a short, large-calibre barrel and a flared muzzle, metaphorically exhaling fire like a mythical dragon
examples: text: [T]he Lovv-countries haue produced another ſort of Horſe-men, vvhich their experience there haue found out to be of notable vſe, and they call them Dragoons, vvhich I knovv not vvhether I may tearme them Foot-Horſe-men, or Horſe-Footmen: for they are Muſquetiers on horſebacke, and are imployed for the taking and maintaining, or at leaſt for preuenting the enemy from taking of Paſſages or Foords vvhich leade ouer Riuers: […]
ref: 1622, Francis Markham, “Epist[le] 1. To the Right Honourable William Lord Evers. The Argument. Of the Officers of Caualarie.”, in Five Decades of Epistles of Warre, London: […] Augustine Matthewes, →OCLC, decad 3, page 83:
text: [Y]oung Emir-Hamza-mirza Abbas his eldeſt on (inheriting his Uncles vertue as vvell as name) vvith a ſtrong body of Horſe and Dragoons confronting the Baſſa near to Sultany gave him ſuch a bruſh that the Turk retreated as far back as Van: […]
ref: 1677, Tho[mas] Herbert, Some Yeares Travels into Divers Parts of Africa, and Asia the Great. […], 4th edition, London: […] R. Everingham, for R. Scot, T. Basset, J[ohn] Wright, and R. Chiswell, →OCLC, page 287:
text: The French persecution more inhuman than ever. The Protestants in Savoy successfully resist the French dragoons sent to murder them.
ref: 1686 June 12 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 2 June 1686]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […]; and sold by John and Arthur Arch, […], published 1819, →OCLC, page 629:
text: No man ſhall ever perſuade me, no not the Biſhop of Meaux [Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet] vvith all his Eloquence, that Priſons and Tortures, Dragoons and the Galleys, are proper means to convince the Underſtanding, and either Chriſtian or Human methods of converting men to the true Religion.
ref: 1692 November 6 (Gregorian calendar), John Tillotson, “Sermon XLI. A Thanksgiving-sermon for the Late Victory at Sea. Preached before the King and Queen at Whitehall, October 27. 1692. Jer[emiah] IX. 23, 24.”, in The Works of the Most Reverend Dr. John Tillotson, Late Lord Archbishop of Canterbury: […], London: […] B. Aylmer, […]; [a]nd W. Rogers, […], published 1696, →OCLC, page 416:
text: A German Dragoon as I thought him, gave me a rude Blovv vvith the Stock of his Piece on the Side of my Head, and vvas juſt going to repeat it, vvhen one of my Men ſhot him dead.
ref: [1720], [Daniel Defoe], “Part I”, in Memoirs of a Cavalier: Or A Military Journal of the Wars in Germany, and the Wars in England; from the Year 1632, to the Year 1648. […], London: […] A. Bell […], J. Osborn […], W[illiam] Taylor […], and T. Warner […], →OCLC, page 126:
text: Near the capital lay also the corps which is now designated as the first regiment of dragoons on the English establishment. […] A single troop of dragoons, which did not form part of any regiment, was stationed near Berwick, for the purpose of keeping the peace among the mosstroopers of the border. For this species of service the dragoon was then thought to be peculiarly qualified. He has since become a mere horse soldier. But in the seventeenth century he was accurately described by Montecuculi as a foot soldier, who used a horse only in order to arrive with more speed at the place where military service was to be performed.
ref: 1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter III, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume I, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, pages 294–295:
text: I have served as a Dragoon in my day; and a comrade of mine that I was once rather partial to, was, if I don't deceive myself, a brother of yours.
ref: 1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, “Steel and Iron”, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC, page 602:
text: If you want a receipt for that popular mystery, / Known to the world as a Heavy Dragoon, / Take all the remarkable people in history, / Rattle them off to a popular tune.
ref: 1881 April 23 (first performance), W[illiam] S[chwenck] Gilbert, librettist; Arthur Sullivan, composer, “Solo—Colonel, & Chorus of Dragoons (No. 3)”, in […] Patience or, Bunthorne’s Bride, New York, N.Y.: Hitchcock Publishing House […], published 1881, →OCLC, Act I, page 23:
text: His forefathers had been, as a rule, professional men—physicians and lawyers; his grandfather died under the walls of Chapultepec Castle while twisting a tourniquet for a cursing dragoon; an uncle remained indefinitely at Malvern Hill; an only brother at Montauk Point having sickened in the trenches before Santiago.
ref: 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “A Dream Ends”, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC, page 43:
topics: government
military
politics
war
glosses: Originally (historical), a soldier armed with a dragoon musket (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.
examples: text: [T]o my great surprise two persons in the habit of gentlemen attacked me with such indecent discourse as I cannot repeat to you, so you may conclude not fit for me to hear. […] [F]ancy your wife or daughter, if you had any, in such circumstances, and what treatment you would then think due to such dragoons.
ref: 1712 November 22 (Gregorian calendar), [Richard Steele], “TUESDAY, November 11, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 533; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume VI, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, pages 86–87:
text: 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.
ref: 1856, R[alph] W[aldo] Emerson, “Race”, in English Traits, Boston, Mass.: Phillips, Sampson, and Company, →OCLC, page 68:
glosses: A man with a fierce or unrefined manner, like a dragoon (sense 1.2).
examples: text: Dragoons were originally bred between a Tumbler and a Horseman; by frequently matching them with the Horseman, they will acquire very great strength and agility. […] One of the principal beauties of the Dragoon is the straightness of the top of its skull, and that of its beak, which ought almost to make a horizontal line with each other.
ref: 1828, William Clarke, “The Fancier: Singing Birds; Silkworms; Rabbits; Guinea Pigs; White Mice; Pigeons; Bantams”, in The Boy’s Own Book: A Complete Encyclopedia of All the Diversions, Athletic, Scientific, and Recreative, of Boyhood and Youth, London: Vizetelly, Branston and Co., →OCLC, page 212:
text: Since the prevalence of low wages the weaver's garden has disappeared, and his pigeon-cote, even if its timbers have not rotted away, is no longer stocked with carriers, dragoons, horsemen, jacobins, monks, poulters, turtles, tumblers, fantails, and the many varieties of what is in itself a variety—the fancy-pigeon.
ref: 1851, Henry Mayhew, “Of the Street-sellers of Live Animals”, in London Labour and the London Poor; […], volume II (The London Street-folk. Book the Second.), London: [Griffin, Bohn, and Company], →OCLC, page 64, column 1:
glosses: A variety of pigeon, originally a cross between a horseman and a tumbler.
Coordinate terms: sense: soldier
word: cavalryman
sense: soldier
word: cuirassier
sense: soldier
word: hussar
sense: soldier
word: lancer
sense: soldier
word: trooper
sense: soldier
word: uhlan
sense: soldier
word: yeoman
Derived terms: word: dragoonade
word: dragoon bird
english: soldier
translation: soldier
word: dragooner
word: dragoon pigeon
Related terms: dragonnade