Word.ws English Dictionary

caparison

caparison noun: the often ornamental coverings for an animal, especially a horse or an elephant.

caparison: the often ornamental coverings for an animal, especially a horse or an elephant
Image: Meister des Codex Manesse, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

caparison (plural caparisons)

  1. The often ornamental coverings for an animal, especially a horse or an elephant.
    • And the green of the caparison of the horse, and of his rider, was as green as the leaves of the fir-tree, and the yellow was as yellow as the blossom of the broom.1861, Charlotte Guest, transl., The Mabinogion/The Dream of Rhonabwy, translation of original in Middle Welsh
    • That very year they received an order from Gustaf II Adolf of Sweden (1594-1632) for a large number of tapestries and four caparisons.2001, Walter A. Liedtke, Vermeer and the Delft School, page 520
  2. Gay or rich clothing.
    • What boots it, that my Fortune decks me thus / With unſubſtantial Plumes; when my Heart groans / Beneath the gay Capariſon, and Love / With unrequited Paſſion wounds my Soul!1749, [Tobias George Smollett], The Regicide: Or, James the First, of Scotland. A Tragedy. […], London: […] [F]or the benefit of the author, →OCLC, Act III, scene iv, page 37

Verb

caparison (third-person singular simple present caparisons, present participle caparisoning, simple past and past participle caparisoned)

  1. To dress up a horse or elephant with ornamental coverings.
    • Come, bustle, bustle; caparison my horse1593, Shakespeare, Richard III, Act 5, Scene 3

caparison meaning in Tamil, Bengali and Persian

caparison in Tamil

சூல்

caparison in Bengali

ঘোড়ার সাজসজ্জা, অলংকৃত আবরণ

caparison in Persian

coverings for an animal, often ornamental
برگستوان bargostvân

Forms of caparison

Noun
pluralcaparisons
Verb
third-person singular presentcaparisons
present participlecaparisoning
past participlecaparisoned
pastcaparisoned

Origin of caparison

From Middle French caparasson (Modern French caparaçon), from Old Spanish caparazón, from Old Occitan capairon.

Questions about caparison

What does caparison mean?
Caparison means the often ornamental coverings for an animal, especially a horse or an elephant.
What is caparison in Tamil?
Caparison in Tamil is சூல். See Caparison meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is caparison?
Caparison can be a noun or a verb.
What is the plural of caparison?
The plural of caparison is caparisons.

Words near caparison in the dictionary

  1. Capano
  2. Capanos
  3. capape
  4. capapie
  5. Capariaan
  6. caparison
  7. caparisoned
  8. caparisoning
  9. caparisons
  10. Caparra
  11. caparro

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: caparison (page history and authors); caparison (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); caparison (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “caparison.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/caparison. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.