Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A highly mobile army unit using vehicular transport, such as light armor and helicopters.
- noun Troops trained to fight on horseback.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A class of soldiers who march and fight on horseback; that part of an army, or of any military force, which consists of troops that serve on horseback, as distinguished from infantry, or foot-soldiers.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Mil.) That part of military force which serves on horseback.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun military The military arm of service that fights while riding horses.
- noun military Branch of military transported by fast light vehicles, the
mechanized cavalry . - noun military An individual unit of the cavalry arm of service.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a highly mobile army unit
- noun troops trained to fight on horseback
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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The term cavalry or infantry hardly describes it since it is composed of all-round handy men ready to take on any job in the campaigning line and do it well.
Scouting For Girls, Official Handbook of the Girl Scouts Girl Scouts of the United States of America 1918
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The first approach might be called the cavalry charge.
The Return Daniel Treisman 2011
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The cavalry is not going to be riding in from over the horizon to save the day.
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The first approach might be called the cavalry charge.
The Return Daniel Treisman 2011
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The reward for his capture was split by the men of the 4th Michigan and 1st Wisconsin cavalry regiments, which had participated jointly.
James Swanson's "Bloody Crimes," reviewed by John Waugh John C. Waugh 2010
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The first approach might be called the cavalry charge.
The Return Daniel Treisman 2011
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Most of the 12,000 served in cavalry units formed in each colony, and were often known as mounted rifles, bushmen, or imperial bushmen.
Archive 2009-03-01 2009
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Moe, great post -- the cavalry is forming and on the march to the 2010 primaries!
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The first approach might be called the cavalry charge.
The Return Daniel Treisman 2011
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The reward for his capture was split by the men of the 4th Michigan and 1st Wisconsin cavalry regiments, which had participated jointly.
James Swanson's "Bloody Crimes," reviewed by John Waugh John C. Waugh 2010
seanmeade commented on the word cavalry
must remember difference between cavalry and Calvary ;-)
March 26, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word cavalry
Cavalry units captured at Yorktown and Gloucester included "Simcoe's and Tarleton's legions" and the "Hereditary Prince's regiment of horse."
Simcoe and Tarleton were stationed at Gloucester, I believe, which is directly across the York River from Yorktown.
(See also jaegers for a comment about the German-speaking troops with the British at Yorktown and Gloucester.)
October 29, 2007
sionnach commented on the word cavalry
I think the jaegers would be on the jacht.
October 30, 2007
reesetee commented on the word cavalry
Funny, sionnach--when I looked for the etymology of yacht, I found this in the OED Online: "Owing to the presence in the Dutch word of the unfamiliar guttural spirant denoted by g(h), the English spellings have been various and erratic; how far they represent varieties of pronunciation it is difficult to say." Then it lists these spellings: yeagh, yoath, yolke?, yaugh, yuaght, yought, y(e)aught, yaucht, jacht, yach, yacth, yat, yott, yatcht, yatch.
Which really makes your head hurt if you read it too quickly.
October 30, 2007
sionnach commented on the word cavalry
Unfamiliar guttural spirant, eh? But then, what can you expect from a language which considers the letter sequence ijk to be legitimate? Rijksmuseum - a word which, quite frankly, triggers nauseum.
October 30, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word cavalry
Ooh, well... I like that about Dutch.
Actually, though Dutch and German are closely related (as languages go--I don't mean that they're the same language, of course), "jacht" is a Dutch spelling/origin, and "jaeger" (I can't make umlauts on this computer very easily) is German.
Hate to be a pooter parpy...
October 30, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word cavalry
Wait! Why's this on the cavalry page and not the jaeger or yacht page?
*is confused*
October 30, 2007
reesetee commented on the word cavalry
No matter. I just like the phrase "unfamiliar guttural spirant." :-)
October 30, 2007
reesetee commented on the word cavalry
Not to worry. I added a reference at yacht. Besides, how can you be confused? This is Wordie, where discussions can pop up darn near anywhere! :-)
October 30, 2007
cathari commented on the word cavalry
seanmeade: You know, I never had trouble with the difference when I was little, until my dad had told me so many times about his own tendency to mix them up that I started mixing them up as well. Confusion can be horribly contagious like that.
October 31, 2007
reesetee commented on the word cavalry
I've had that happen too, cathari. Thanks to a friend of mine, to this day I have to think twice before mentioning NYC's Chrysler Building. She always called it the Chevrolet Building. :-)
October 31, 2007