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Webster 1913 Edition

Dragoon

Dra-goon′

(drȧ-goōn′)
,
Noun.
[F.
dragon
dragon, dragoon, fr. L.
draco
dragon, also, a cohort’s standard (with a dragon on it). The name was given from the sense
standard
. See
Dragon
.]
1.
((Mil.)
Formerly, a soldier who was taught and armed to serve either on horseback or on foot; now, a mounted soldier; a cavalry man.
2.
A variety of pigeon.
Clarke.
Dragoon bird
(Zool.)
,
the umbrella bird.

Dra-goon′

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Dragooned
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Dragooning
.]
1.
To harass or reduce to subjection by dragoons; to persecute by abandoning a place to the rage of soldiers.
2.
To compel submission by violent measures; to harass; to persecute.
The colonies may be influenced to anything, but they can be
dragooned
to nothing.
Price.
Lewis the Fourteenth is justly censured for trying to
dragoon
his subjects to heaven.
Macaulay.

Webster 1828 Edition

Dragoon

DRAGOON

,
Noun.
[G., L, an ensign bearer; dragon; an appellation given to horsemen, perhaps for their rapidity or fierceness.] A soldier or musketeer who serves on horseback or on foot, as occasion may require. Their arms are a sword, a musket and a bayonet.

DRAGOON

,
Verb.
T.
1.
To persecute by abandoning a place to the rage of soldiers.
2.
To enslave or reduce to subjection by soldiers.
3.
To harass; to persecute; to compel to submit by violent measures; to force. [This is the more usual sense.]
The colonies may be influenced to any thing, but they can de dragooned to nothing.

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