unhorse
Americanverb (used with object)
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to cause to fall from a horse, as in battle; dislodge from the saddle.
Sir Gawain unhorsed the strange knight.
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to defeat; overcome; dislodge, as from a position or office.
His vigorous campaign unhorsed his adversary.
verb
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(usually passive) to knock or throw from a horse
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to overthrow or dislodge, as from a powerful position
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rare to unharness horses from (a carriage, etc)
Etymology
Origin of unhorse
First recorded in 1350–1400, unhorse is from the Middle English word unhorsen. See un- 2, horse
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.
Unseating Bush was daunting, as it is to unhorse any incumbent president.
From Washington Times • Oct. 23, 2019
This and a score more of tempests and squalls could not unhorse him.
From Time Magazine Archive
Shiniest Republican statewide hopeful: Newcomer William B. Bantz, 40, burly, personable former U.S. district attorney from Spokane, his party's nominee to unhorse Democrat Senator Henry M. Jackson.
From Time Magazine Archive
Even so, Johnson may prove no easier to unhorse in 1968 than Harry Truman was 20 years earlier when threatened by an overconfident G.O.P.
From Time Magazine Archive
H should be sounded in the middle of words; as in forehead, abhor, behold, exhaust, inhabit, unhorse.
From The Handy Cyclopedia of Things Worth Knowing A Manual of Ready Reference by Triemens, Joseph
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.
