unhorse

[ uhn-hawrs ]
See synonyms for unhorse on Thesaurus.com
verb (used with object),un·horsed, un·hors·ing.
  1. to cause to fall from a horse, as in battle; dislodge from the saddle: Sir Gawain unhorsed the strange knight.

  2. to defeat; overcome; dislodge, as from a position or office: His vigorous campaign unhorsed his adversary.

Origin of unhorse

1
First recorded in 1350–1400, unhorse is from the Middle English word unhorsen.See un-2, horse

Words Nearby unhorse

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use unhorse in a sentence

  • Have you not a minute ago seen Mazurec unhorse a knight all alone, with his stick and only a handful of sand?

  • The object of the young Irishman was to unhorse, or rather un-camel, his antagonist, and get him to the ground.

    The Boy Slaves | Mayne Reid
  • Scarcely did I catch her words, for a man sprang in, seizing my bridle-rein and leg and struggling to unhorse me.

  • They deal such blows upon their shields that, beside the wounded, they unhorse more than five hundred of them.

    Four Arthurian Romances | Chretien DeTroyes
  • Thus the point of the fir-tree caught him upon the shoulder and came near to unhorse him.

British Dictionary definitions for unhorse

unhorse

/ (ʌnˈhɔːs) /


verb(tr)
  1. (usually passive) to knock or throw from a horse

  2. to overthrow or dislodge, as from a powerful position

  1. rare to unharness horses from (a carriage, etc)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012