Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A member of a European military unit trained and armed to fight mounted or on foot.
- v. To subjugate or persecute by the imposition of troops.
- v. To compel by violent measures or threats; coerce.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A cavalry soldier. Originally dragoons were a mongrel force, a sort of mounted infantry, armed with musquetoons or carbines, and serving on foot as well as on horseback; but now they serve as cavalry only. In the British army they are classed as heavy or light dragoons, according to the weight of men, horses, and equipments. The term is not used in the United States army.
- n. A dragonade.
- n. Same as dragon, 2 .
- To set dragoons or soldiers upon, as in the dragonades (see dragonade); persecute or oppress by armed force.
- To cause to submit, as by persistent threats; compel by repeated acts of any kind; harass.
Wiktionary
- n. horse soldier; cavalryman, that use horses for mobility, but fight dismounted.
- n. A carrier of a dragon musket.
- v. To force someone into doing something; to coerce.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Formerly, a soldier who was taught and armed to serve either on horseback or on foot; now, a mounted soldier; a cavalry man.
- n. A variety of pigeon.
- v. To harass or reduce to subjection by dragoons; to persecute by abandoning a place to the rage of soldiers.
- v. To compel submission by violent measures; to harass; to persecute.
WordNet 3.0
- v. compel by coercion, threats, or crude means
- n. a member of a European military unit formerly composed of heavily armed cavalrymen
- v. subjugate by imposing troops
Etymologies
- French dragon, carbine, dragoon, from Old French, dragon; see dragon.
Examples
“A dragoon is a mounted soldier who attacks mounted, and fights dismounted in the defense.”
“In the corner opposite the dragoon was a boy of eighteen or so in the working clothes of a terrassier or labourer.”
“The dragoon was the first to resume the conversation.”
“He called a dragoon, who was riding in advance, issued a few orders and cautions relative to the comfort and safety of Singleton, and speaking a consoling word to his friend himself, gave Roanoke the spur, and dashed by the car, at a rate that again put to flight all the philosophy of”
“The Obama White House first became known for reckless political tactics when the National Endowment for the Arts used several conference calls dragoon artists into promoting specific administration policies.”
“Her podcast mentioning "dragoon" had to come from here”
“As the afternoon stretched out into evening, they would mull over words such as dragoon, cabal, strauss and enterprise.”
“The word "dragoon" was a thorn in my tenderest part that rankled and lacerated at every stir.”
“I believe Ms. Bauer is aiming in the general direction of "dragoon" as verb transitive, in particular the second definition of such as offered by the 1913 Webster: " 2.”
“Turnbull was in charge of the civil service at the start of the Iraq war: on his watch the evidence in the notorious dossier was used to dragoon public support.”
The Guardian: Britain must resist Tea Party thinking | Polly Toynbee
Lists
‘dragoon’ hasn't been added to any lists yet.
jortop I believe the example sentences for this word refer to a similarly spelled word unrelated to this word. See Peggy Noonan's 6/1/09 column (url below) for the correct usage.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124354585930464037.html
"Mr. Clinton's staff was human, colorful, messy, slightly mad. They had pent-up energy after 12 years of Republican rule, and they believed their own propaganda that Republicans were wicked. They were oafish: One dragooned a government helicopter to go play golf. President Obama's staff is far less entertaining." Jun 1, 2009
jortop I believe the example sentences for this word refer to a similarly spelled word unrelated to this word. See Peggy Noonan's 6/1/09 column (url below) for the correct usage.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124354585930464037.html
"Mr. Clinton's staff was human, colorful, messy, slightly mad. They had pent-up energy after 12 years of Republican rule, and they believed their own propaganda that Republicans were wicked. They were oafish: One dragooned a government helicopter to go play golf. President Obama's staff is far less entertaining." Jun 1, 2009
jortop I believe the example sentences for this word refer to a similarly spelled word unrelated to this word. See Peggy Noonan's 6/1/09 column (url below) for the correct usage.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124354585930464037.html
"Mr. Clinton's staff was human, colorful, messy, slightly mad. They had pent-up energy after 12 years of Republican rule, and they believed their own propaganda that Republicans were wicked. They were oafish: One dragooned a government helicopter to go play golf. President Obama's staff is far less entertaining." Jun 1, 2009
chained_bear Not quite an oxymoron. See heavy dragoon and light dragoon for period definitions. Oct 9, 2008
milosrdenstvi Dragoons were generally light cavalry, used as a sort of police or guerrilla force on occasion, which is where the verb form comes in. So it was kind of silly for Gilbert to talk about "Heavy Dragoons", it being an oxymoron. (See residuum for citation.)
The name came from the carbine they originally used, called a dragon. Aug 20, 2008
chained_bear A dragoon is a single soldier, not a unit. Aug 20, 2008
super-logos What about the Light Dragoons in the War of the Revolution in American history? Is a dragoon a group of troops? One could see coercion in that, or force, for sure. Aug 20, 2008