light horsemann.
/ˈlʌɪt ˌhɔːsmən/, U.S. /ˈlaɪt ˌhɔrsmən/ 1.
a. A lightly armed cavalry soldier. Now historical.
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society > armed hostility > warrior > soldier > soldier by branch of army > [noun] > mounted soldier > light-armed
hobblerc1308
prickera1350
genetorc1440
stradiotc1515
light horse1524
hussar1532
light horseman1544
demi-lancer1552
demi-lancea1556
estradiot1577
argoletier1579
argoletc1580
Cossack1587
jennet1676
hobbler-archer1786
1544 A. Cope Hist. Anniball & Scipio lii. f. 98v The consull, hearynge noo noyse in the tentes of his ennemyes, sent two light horsmen to viewe theyr campe.
1554 J. Proctor Hist. Wyates Rebellion sig. I.vi The light horsemen who so hardly persued the tayle of his bande, that they slewe many, hurte more, and toke moost of them.
1787 M. Cutler Jrnl. 5 July in W. P. Cutler & J. P. Cutler Life, Jrnls. & Corr. M. Cutler (1888) I. 226 A light-horseman..was discovered near the bridge on the American side.
2003 Eng. Hist. Rev. 118 1264 The cavalry..was composed of demilancers, lighthorsemen and petronels who differed in their armour and arms... Demilancers and lighthorsemen were fully or partially armoured and armed with a lance or sword.
b. Among the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muskogee, and Seminole people: a mounted law enforcement officer. Now historical.
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1821 A. R. Gambold Jrnl. 24 Aug. in United Brethren's Missionary Intelligencer (1823) 1 347 A captain of the Cherokee light horsemen.
1821 in Laws of Cherokee Nation (1826) 20 If any person or persons whatsoever, shall resist and kill any of the marshals or light-horsemen in their official duties, it shall be the duty of the marshals to lead the light-horse to apprehend, or kill the person or persons so transgressing.
1893 North Missourian 13 Oct. 7/2 Ponaska..understood that the light horseman, in the discharge of his duty, had made application for a writ for him for horse stealing.
2013 G. Peoples-Elam Amer. Heritage Story 388 The Light Horsemen had the authority to arrest, try, and punish violators of tribal law.
2. A light boat. Now historical.
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society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > vessels propelled by oars or poles > [noun] > vessels propelled by oars and sails > gig
light horseman1589
gig1790
1589 R. Lane in R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations iii. 741 Which word was not so soone spoken by him, and the light horseman ready to put to shoare, but there lighted a vollie of their arrowes amongst them in the boate.
1600 J. Jane in R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations (new ed.) III. 843 His long boat and light-horseman were lost at sea.
a1641 J. Finett Philoxenis (1656) 220 Leaving a Light-horseman to be taken up for their baggage at Gravesend.
1730 Constit. Company of Watermen & Lightermen 68 Deputation to a Master of a Row-Barge, Light Horseman or Tilt-Boat.
1986 J. L. Humber Backgrounds & Prepar. for Roanoke Voy., 1584–90 iii. 37 On this journey it is known that a light horseman was taken, along with the double-oared wherry.
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the world > animals > birds > perching birds > order Columbiformes (pigeons, etc.) > domestic pigeon > [noun] > other types
porcelainc1530
turn-pate1611
light horseman1661
runt1661
smiter1668
helmet1676
mammet1678
Cortbeck1688
turbit1688
turner1688
dragoon1725
finicking1725
Leghorn1725
nun1725
owl1725
petit1725
trumpeter1725
horseman1735
Mahomet1735
barbel1736
turn-tail1736
frill-back1765
blue rock1825
beard1826
ice pigeon1829
toy1831
black1839
skinnum1839
splash1851
whole-feather1851
spangle1854
swallow1854
shield1855
stork pigeon1855
Swabian1855
yellow1855
archangel1867
dragon1867
starling1867
magpie1868
smerle1869
bluette1870
cumulet1876
oriental1876
spot fairy1876
turbiteen1876
blondinette1879
hyacinth1879
Modena pigeon1879
silver-dun1879
silverette1879
silver-mealy1879
swift pigeon1879
Victoria1879
visor1879
ice1881
swallow pigeon1881
velvet fairy1881
priesta1889
frill1890
1661 W. Ramesey Ὁ Ἄνθρωπος κατ' Ἐξοχήλ 54 They are indeed but Bastards, and begotten between a Barbary & a Runt & so those some term Light Horse Men, they spring from a Carryer & a Runt.
1678 J. Ray tr. F. Willughby Ornithol. ii. 182 Light-horsemen. This is a bastard kind, of one Parent a Cropper, the other a Carrier.
1783 J. Latham Gen. Synopsis Birds II. ii. 614 Light Horseman Pigeon... These..are said to be excellent breeders; and never to forsake the place where bred.
a. Australian. An Australian marine fish, perhaps the Australasian snapper, Pagrus auratus, or the sea sweep, Scorpis aequipennis. Obsolete.
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1789 W. Tench Narr. Exped. Botany Bay xv. 129 A species of grouper, to which, from the form of a bone in the head resembling a helmet, we have given the name of light horseman.
1793 W. Tench Compl. Acct. Settlem. Port Jackson xvii. 176 At the top of the list [of fish], as an article of food, stands a fish, which we named light-horseman.
1798 D. Collins Acct. Eng. Colony New S. Wales I. viii. 86 A boat belonging to the Sirius caught seven-and-forty of the large fish which obtained among us the appellation of Light Horse Men.
b. In full light horseman fish. A spadefish (family Ephippidae). Obsolete.
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the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > suborder Percoidei > [noun] > family Ephippidae (spade-fishes) > member of
light horseman1827
batfish1851
sea-bat1880
angelfish1888
1827 G. Mantell Illustr. Geol. Sussex 58 Teeth of a hemispherical form;... In the Light-horseman fish, a similar dentature is observable.
1854 R. Owen Struct. Skeleton & Teeth in Orr's Circle Sci.: Org. Nature I. 174 The median crest is developed to an extreme height in some fishes, as, e.g. the dolphin and light-horseman fish (Ephippus).
1881 Cassell's Nat. Hist. V. 5 Sometimes the crest of the bone is exceedingly lofty, as in the Light Horseman fish (Ephippus) and sometimes absent, as in the sucking fish Remora.
5. In plural. A name for: a gang of thieves who plunder lighters or ships on the River Thames at night. Now historical.
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the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > thief > [noun] > river-thief
lumper1781
light horsemen1799
river thief1800
tier-ranger1853
1799 P. Colquhoun Gen. View Depredations Port of London 10 Light-Horsemen, or Nightly Plunderers of West India ships.
1840 F. Marryat Poor Jack xviii. 124 ‘There's a lighter adrift’, said I... ‘The Light Horsemen have cut her adrift.’
1867 Chamber's Jrnl. 25 May 334/1 The light-horsemen or night-plunderers carried on a most infamous system of robbery, preconcerted and carried out with the connivance of the mate and revenue officers attached to the vessel, each of the latter receiving a certain sum, and retiring to bed while the plunder was going on.
1899 Daily News 9 Jan. 6/1 ‘Light Horsemen’ would look out for a lighter having valuable goods on board, and at night, stealing up quietly, would cut her adrift: then following her, as she floated down with the tide, would by-and-by rescue her, and bring her back, claiming salvage.
2001 M. Archibald Across Pond xii. 106 The Thames-side thieves were organised into gangs with evocative names such as Night Plunderers, Mudlarks, Scuffle-Hunters and Light Horsemen.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2021).
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n.1544