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
It had been brought up in 1936, when it was obvious from the outset that no Republican could hope to unhorse Franklin Roosevelt.
From Time Magazine Archive
The promise: he could unhorse McCarthy with a dossier of "proof" that the Senator's investigators were resorting freely to burglary, blackmail, bribery and frame-ups to serve McCarthy's ends.
From Time Magazine Archive
The current scandal seems as unlikely to unhorse Chairman Daniel Haughton, who has headed Lockheed since 1967, as any of the company's former crises.
From Time Magazine Archive
Martial qualities, in that age in particular, redeemed a thousand faults; and Don Luis had even been known to unhorse, in the tourney, Alonzo de Ojeda, then the most expert lance in Spain.
From Mercedes of Castile The Voyage to Cathay by Cooper, J. Fenimore
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.
