Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun An ornamental covering for a horse or for its saddle or harness; trappings.
- noun Richly ornamented clothing; finery.
- transitive verb To outfit (a horse) with an ornamental covering.
- transitive verb To dress (another) in rich clothing.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To cover with a caparison, as a horse.
- To dress sumptuously; adorn with rich dress.
- noun A cloth or covering, more or less ornamented, laid over the saddle or furniture of a horse, especially of a sumpter-horse or horse of state.
- noun Clothing, especially sumptuous clothing; equipment; outfit.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun An ornamental covering or housing for a horse; the harness or trappings of a horse, taken collectively, especially when decorative.
- noun Gay or rich clothing.
- transitive verb To cover with housings, as a horse; to harness or fit out with decorative trappings, as a horse.
- transitive verb To adorn with rich dress; to dress.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The often
ornamental coverings for an animal, especially a horse or an elephant. - verb To dress up a horse or elephant with ornamental coverings.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb put a caparison on
- noun stable gear consisting of a decorated covering for a horse, especially (formerly) for a warhorse
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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His caparison was another mortification and failure.
Boy Life Stories and Readings Selected From The Works of William Dean Howells William Dean Howells 1878
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The riderless horse is known as a caparison, a custom that dates to the time of Genghis Khan.
Telegraph.co.uk: news business sport the Daily Telegraph newspaper Sunday Telegraph 2009
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Here and there were solitary pavilions of cataphracts brought low by the shiver-and-shake, some with horses waiting in full caparison, as if their masters expected to ride to battle.
Wildfire Sarah Micklem 2009
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Here and there were solitary pavilions of cataphracts brought low by the shiver-and-shake, some with horses waiting in full caparison, as if their masters expected to ride to battle.
Wildfire Sarah Micklem 2009
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Here and there were solitary pavilions of cataphracts brought low by the shiver-and-shake, some with horses waiting in full caparison, as if their masters expected to ride to battle.
Wildfire Sarah Micklem 2009
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Among many other things, it contains a detailed description of the Milanese war wagon: wrapped entirely in scarlet cloth, it was so enormous it had to be drawn by three pairs of the biggest and strongest oxen; each of these beasts wore a white caparison marked with a red cross.
Delizia! John Dickie 2008
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With die and drab I purchased this caparison, and my revenue is the silly cheat.
The Winter’s Tale 2004
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Since that time, we've used Sergeant York as our caparison horse, our riderless horse.
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The only cheerfulness in the local color was to be noted in the caparison of the donkeys, which we were to find more and more brilliant southward.
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For the horse being richly adorned with golden trappings, and having a caparison of great value, the soldiers quarreled among themselves for the booty, so that while they were fighting with one another, and dividing the spoil, Pompey made his escape.
The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans Plutarch 2003
chained_bear commented on the word caparison
Whenever I hear this word, my brain automatically places it in the phrase "gaily caparisoned horses."
November 8, 2007
reesetee commented on the word caparison
Really? I always think of the horses at JFK's funeral procession, although I don't recall whether they were caparisoned.
November 8, 2007
seanahan commented on the word caparison
Janny Wurts really likes using these old school words, which is where I first heard this one.
November 8, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word caparison
"... under this term is included, the bridle, saddle, and housing of a military horse." (citation in Historical Military Terms list description)
October 10, 2008
jaime_d commented on the word caparison
"Mounting Sturmi, with its saffron housing and its caparison of indigo, and illustrious in his own gold strappings inlaid with opal. . ." Gilbert Adair translation of Georges Perec's La Disparition
August 11, 2010
qms commented on the word caparison
The heavenly version I like the most
Supports a cheerful, sybaritic host.
To be richly caparisoned
And lavishly garrisoned
Would give best comfort to my ghost.
October 1, 2014