Definition of dragoon Dragoon

dra•goon

We found 13 definitions of dragoon from 6 different sources.

What does dragoon mean?

Noun Plural: dragoons
dragoon - a member of a European military unit formerly composed of heavily armed cavalrymen
		cavalryman, trooper a soldier mounted on horseback; "a cavalryman always takes good care of his mount"
Verb dragoons, dragooning, dragooned
dragoon - subjugate by imposing troops
		subjugate, subject make subservient; force to submit or subdue
dragoon - compel by coercion, threats, or crude means; "They sandbagged him to make dinner for everyone"
		sandbag, railroad
		coerce, hale, pressure, force, squeeze to cause to do through pressure or necessity, by physical, moral or intellectual means :"She forced him to take a job in the city"; "He squeezed her for information"

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dragoon (Noun)
A horse soldier; a cavalryman, who uses a horse for mobility, but fights dismounted.
dragoon (Noun)
A carrier of a dragon musket.
dragoon (Verb)
To force someone into doing something; to coerce.

dragoon (n.)
Formerly, a soldier who was taught and armed to serve either on horseback or on foot; now, a mounted soldier; a cavalry man.
dragoon (n.)
A variety of pigeon.
dragoon (v. t.)
To harass or reduce to subjection by dragoons; to persecute by abandoning a place to the rage of soldiers.
dragoon (v. t.)
To compel submission by violent measures; to harass; to persecute.

dragoon
Originally a soldier trained to serve alike on horse or foot, or as Dr. Johnson equivocally explains it, "who fights indifferently on foot or on horseback." (See TROOP.) The term is now applied to all cavalry soldiers who have no other special designation.

dragoon
From the old fable that the dragon spouts fire, the head of the monster was worked upon the muzzle of a peculiar kind of short muskets which were first carried by the horsemen raised by Marshal Brissac in 1600. This circumstance led to their being called dragoons; and from the general adoption of the same weapon, though without the emblem in question, the term gradually extended itself till it became almost synonymous with horse-soldier. Dragoons were at one time a kind of mounted infantry, drilled to perform the services both of horse and foot. At present, dragoon is simply one among many designations for cavalry, not very precise in its application. This term is not now used in the U. S. service.