Word.ws English Dictionary

dragoon

Syllables: dra·goon/dɹəˈɡuːn//dɹəˈɡun/

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

Noun

dragoon (plural dragoons)

  1. (historical) Synonym of dragon (“a type of musket with a short, large-calibre barrel and a flared muzzle, metaphorically exhaling fire like a mythical dragon”).
    • [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...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...
    Synonyms:
    dragon
  2. (broadly) 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.
    • [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...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...
    • [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: […]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...
  3. (broadly) A man with a fierce or unrefined manner, like a dragoon (noun sense 1.2).
    • [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...1712 November 21 (Gregorian calendar), [Richard Steele], “MONDAY, November 11, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 533; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […]...
    • 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.1856, R[alph] W[aldo] Emerson, “Race”, in English Traits, Boston, Mass.: Phillips, Sampson, and Company, →OCLC, page 68
  4. A variety of pigeon, originally a cross between a horseman and a tumbler.
    • 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...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...
    • 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...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]...

Verb

dragoon (third-person singular simple present dragoons, present participle dragooning, simple past and past participle dragooned)

  1. (French, historical, transitive) 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”).
    • She [Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné] appears to have exulted in the extirpation of protestantism in Provence, by the power of her son-in-law, count de Gregnan [i.e., François Adhémar de Monteil, Comte de Grignan]; she even speaks with levity of the sufferings of the huguenots...1803, Mary Hays, “The Marchioness de Sevigne”, in Female Biography; or, Memoirs of Illustrious and Celebrated Women, of All Ages and Countries. […], volume VI, London: […] Richard Phillips, […] by...
    • This was the pious lady [Ninon de l’Enclos] who, in after times, expiated the faults of her youth by dragooning Huguenots into Catholics.1845 June, “Art. V.—Lives of Men of Letters and Science who Flourished in the Time of George III. By Henry Lord Brougham. Knight and Co. [book review]”, in The Westminster Review, American edition...
  2. (broadly, transitive) 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: […]1689 May 24 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Mat[thew] Prior, “An Epistle to Fleetwood Shephard, Esq”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], published 1709, →OCLC, page 20
    • The next step was that suggested by Mr. Townsend, of quartering large bodies of troops upon the chief towns in the colonies, and demanding of the several colonial legislatures, a provision for their comfortable support and accommodation. […] Their object was perfectly understood: it was to curb the...1817, William Wirt, “Section III”, in Sketches of the Life and Character of Patrick Henry, Philadelphia, Pa.: James Webster, […]; William Brown, […], →OCLC, pages 78–79
    Synonyms:
    compel
  3. (broadly, historical, transitive) To cause (someone) to be attacked by dragoons.
    • He [Samuel Wilson] says, for example, that he is opposed to locking men up without trial, but he refrains from pledging himself to releasing the suspects. He says nothing about the necessity for dragooning the Irish for abolishing trial by jury.1881 December 3, “The issues in Derry”, in The Pall Mall Gazette: An Evening Newspaper and Review, volume XXXIV, number 5233, London: […] Richard Lambert, […], →OCLC, page 1, column 1

dragoon meaning in Tamil, Marathi, Urdu and Malayalam

dragoon in Tamil

variety of pigeon
டிரகூன் ṭirakūṉ

dragoon in Marathi

soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
ड्रगून ḍragūn

dragoon in Urdu

غصہ ور, سوار

dragoon in Malayalam

cavalryman, mounted soldier, knight
കുതിരപ്പടയാളി, അശ്വാരോഹൻ, കുതിരപ്പട്ടാളക്കാരൻ, വീരയോദ്ധാവ്, അശ്വി, അശ്വികൻ
pressurize, coerce, pressure
നിർബന്ധിച്ചു ചെയ്യിക്കുക, ബലാൽക്കാരമായി അനുസരിപ്പിക്കുക, ഞെരുക്കു, ഹിംസിക്കുക, സെെന്യശക്തികൊണ്ടു പീഡിപ്പിക്കുക, ശക്തിയായി പ്രേരിപ്പിക്കുക
More languagesFewer languages
dragoon in Tagalog
dragun
dragoon in Arabic
فارِس fāris
dragoon in Indonesian
dragon
dragoon in Persian
اسوار asvâr
dragoon in Vietnamese
long kỵ binh

Examples of dragoon in a sentence

  • The Protestants in Savoy successfully resist the French dragoons sent to murder them.1686 June 11 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 2 June 1686]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life...
  • 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.[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...
  • For this species of service the dragoon was then thought to be peculiarly qualified.1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter III, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume I, London: Longman, Brown...
  • 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.1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, “Steel and Iron”, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC...

Synonyms of dragoon

Forms of dragoon

Noun
pluraldragoons
Verb
third-person singular presentdragoons
present participledragooning
past participledragooned
pastdragooned

Plural of dragoon: dragoons

Origin of dragoon

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).

Words formed from dragoon

Phrases with dragoon

Words that rhyme with dragoon

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about dragoon

What does dragoon mean?
Dragoon means synonym of dragon (“a type of musket with a short, large-calibre barrel and a flared muzzle, metaphorically exhaling fire like a mythical dragon”).
What is dragoon in Tamil?
Dragoon in Tamil is டிரகூன் (ṭirakūṉ). See Dragoon meaning in Tamil.
How do you use dragoon in a sentence?
The Protestants in Savoy successfully resist the French dragoons sent to murder them.
What part of speech is dragoon?
Dragoon can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce dragoon?
Dragoon is pronounced /dɹəˈɡuːn/ (UK).
What is the plural of dragoon?
The plural of dragoon is dragoons.

Words near dragoon in the dictionary

  1. dragonwise
  2. dragonwort
  3. dragonworts
  4. dragony
  5. Dragoo
  6. dragoon
  7. dragoon bird
  8. dragoon birds
  9. dragoonade
  10. dragoonades
  11. dragooned

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: dragoon (page history and authors); dragoon (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); dragoon (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). 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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-dragoon.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-dragoon.wav.

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