dragoon
Americannoun
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(especially formerly) a European cavalryman of a heavily armed troop.
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a member of a military unit formerly composed of such cavalrymen, as in the British army.
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(formerly) a mounted infantryman armed with a short musket.
verb (used with object)
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to set dragoons or soldiers upon; persecute by armed force; oppress.
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to force by oppressive measures; coerce.
The authorities dragooned the peasants into leaving their farms.
noun
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(originally) a mounted infantryman armed with a carbine
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(sometimes capital) a domestic fancy pigeon
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a type of cavalryman
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( pl; cap when part of a name )
the Royal Dragoons
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verb
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to coerce; force
he was dragooned into admitting it
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to persecute by military force
Other Word Forms
- dragoonage noun
- undragooned adjective
Etymology
Origin of dragoon
1615–25; < French dragon, special use of dragon dragon, applied first to a pistol hammer (so named because of its shape), then to the firearm, then to the troops so armed
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.
The temple’s treasurer, desperate to avoid a scandal, dragoons Gabriel into finding out who’s behind these grisly deeds.
Countries cannot be "dragooned" into joining a coalition aimed at protecting potential peace in Ukraine, Cabinet Office Minister Pat McFadden has said.
From BBC
The premise has the boys, the worst soldiers imaginable, coping with being dragooned into the U.S.
From Los Angeles Times
An unassuming, enlightened type, he has been dragooned into choosing a bride only because his brawnier and better-loved brother, Prince Charming, is presumed dead after disappearing at war.
From New York Times
The grotesqueness of the sacrifice seems compounded for the Africans dragooned into fighting somebody else’s war.
From New York Times
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.
