Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A small sturdy horse, especially a Cayuse Indian pony.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A pony or small horse; specifically, an Indian pony of the peculiar breed formerly in use among the Cayuse Indians of the northern Rocky Mountains.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Northw. U. S. An Indian pony.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun US a small Indian horse or pony

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a small native range horse

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Short for cayuse pony, from Cayuse.]

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Examples

  • That night the manager spent at the logging camp of Alpine, and early the following morning he rode a mountain cayuse up Antelope Valley.

    Chapter II 2010

  • She should have the gentlest "cayuse" in the "bunch," and the foreman would do the guiding, himself.

    'Firebrand' Trevison Charles Alden Seltzer 1908

  • The "cayuse" bell sounded nearer and nearer, and directly from the dense forest a packhorse came stepping with care over the fallen logs, where the sign of a trail was yet dim to any eyes but those of a woodsman.

    That Girl Montana Marah Ellis Ryan 1900

  • "I hear the 'cayuse' bell," he remarked; "so the others are coming.

    That Girl Montana Marah Ellis Ryan 1900

  • Twice she rode over on a cayuse all the way from Samson's Flat, an 'I was sorry for the young creature.

    Chapter II 2010

  • He'll let nineteen go by without batting an eye, and mebbe the twentieth, just because he's feeling frisky, he'll cut up over like a range cayuse.

    Chapter XI 2010

  • Like "axion" and "cayuse." ... dont like my word, challenge it using the official scrabble dictionary and see what happens.

    dailycomic Diary Entry dailycomic 2008

  • Willie Palmer's stallion was no twenty dollar cayuse

    Four Rode By 1998

  • He saddled his fiery cayuse, determined to flourish round

    A Life in a Prairie Shack 1996

  • He robs a pore half-breed of a cayuse, and shoots up a Chink who's panning tailings, and generally and variously becomes too pronounced, till he's run outen camp.

    The Passing of Cock-Eye Blacklock 1995

Comments

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  • "The cayuse isn't foaled yet here on Quien Sabe that can throw me, nor the dog whelped that would dare show his teeth at me."

    - Frank Norris, The Octopus, ch. 5

    August 15, 2008

  • "And where's the horse that could support him through a day of range-riding? Roland thought. I'd like to see the cut of that Cayuse." From Wizard and Glass by Stephen King.

    January 27, 2011

  • Visuals fail.

    January 24, 2016