yeomanry

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

• noun The class of yeomen; small freeholding farmers.
• noun A British volunteer cavalry force organized in 1761 to serve as a home guard and later incorporated into the Territorial Army.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The collective estate or body of yeomen; yeomen collectively.
• noun Service; retainers; those doing a vassal's service.
• noun That which befits a yeoman.
• noun A volunteer cavalry force originally embodied in Great Britain during the wars of the French revolution, and consisting to a great extent of gentlemen or wealthy farmers.

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

• noun obsolete The position or rank of a yeoman.
• noun The collective body of yeomen, or freeholders.
• noun A British volunteer cavalry force, growing out of a royal regiment of fox hunters raised by Yorkshire gentlemen in 1745 to fight the Pretender, Charles Edward; -- calle dalso yeomanry cavalry. The members furnish their own horses, have fourteen days' annual camp training, and receive pay and allowance when on duty. In 1901 the name was altered to imperial yeomanry in recognition of the services of the force in the Boer war. See Army organization, above.
• noun [Eng.] certain bodies of volunteer cavalry liable to service in Great Britain only.

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

• noun Class of small freeholders who cultivated their own land.
• noun A British volunteer cavalry force organized in 1761 for home defense later incorporated into the Territorial Army.

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

• noun a British volunteer cavalry force organized in 1761 for home defense later incorporated into the Territorial Army
• noun class of small freeholders who cultivated their own land