cayuse
noun
a horse, especially an Indian pony.
cayuse
1 American
[kahy-yoos, kahy-oos]
/ kaɪˈjus, ˈkaɪ us /
noun
-
Western U.S. a horse, especially an Indian pony.
-
Also called cayuse wind. Northwestern U.S. a cold wind blowing from the east.
Cayuse
2
American
[kahy-yoos, kahy-oos]
/ kaɪˈjus, ˈkaɪ us /
noun
-
Cayuses,
plural
-
Cayuse
plural
cayuse
British
/ ˈkaɪuːs /
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of cayuse
1830–40, named after the Cayuse
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
We were not under the necessity of being 'grub-staked' by anyone, or more ostentatiously on the hurricane deck of a cayuse.
From Time Magazine Archive
But he did not get to Nevada on his cayuse.
From Time Magazine Archive
Billy’s own horse was a stringy cayuse with a hammer head, but he nearly always won first prize at the stock trials.
From "The Red Pony" by John Steinbeck
Then a puff of powdery snow stung her tingling cheeks, and she shook the bridle and turned the cayuse into the lower trail.
From Delilah of the Snows by Harold Bindloss
In the grassy glades that encircle the snowy pile of Adams no vexatious undergrowth impedes the gallop of our fleet cayuse pony or obscures our vision.
From The Columbia River Its History, Its Myths, Its Scenery, Its Commerce by William Denison Lyman
Other plots involve bandits, guns and an Indigenous tribe, the Cayuse, about to sign a treaty and a rebel faction out to scotch it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 4, 2025
Enjoy the road’s bounty of summer wildflowers as it takes travelers from the Paradise entrance to Cayuse Pass.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 24, 2024
A variety of Indigenous cultures, including the Molalla, Kalapuya, Tenino, Wasco, Klamath, Northern Paiute and Cayuse, probably used the area for trading, hunting and the collection of plants.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 28, 2023
Northbound traffic on Cayuse Pass closed Tuesday at milepost 2.5, north of the Highway 12 junction.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 15, 2023
It was now time to close for the day, and the vote being put, Tawatowe was declared duly elected to the high chieftainship of the Cayuse tribe.
From A History of Oregon, 1792-1849 Drawn From Personal Observation and Authentic Information by William Henry Gray
Those in front shrank back from the iron warriors of Multnomah, those in the rear wavered before the fierce Cayuses.
From The Bridge of the Gods A Romance of Indian Oregon. 19th Edition. by Frederic Homer Balch
Was that company weaker at this time than they had been before, that they could not manage or conquer the Cayuses?
From A History of Oregon, 1792-1849 Drawn From Personal Observation and Authentic Information by William Henry Gray
But at the beginning of these harvests the Cayuses were sickening and dying, and the mission was powerless to stay the pestilence.
From The Log School-House on the Columbia by Hezekiah Butterworth
Then, and not till then, did Multnomah turn his gaze on the malcontents, who stood, desperate but hesitating, hemmed in by the Willamettes and the Cayuses.
From The Bridge of the Gods A Romance of Indian Oregon. 19th Edition. by Frederic Homer Balch
I speak for all the Cayuses present and all my people.
From A History of Oregon, 1792-1849 Drawn From Personal Observation and Authentic Information by William Henry Gray
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
