Dehorses

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To dismount someone from a horse ; to remove a knight or rider forcibly from their seat ; to cause someone to fall off a horse during riding
2. The act of throwing a rider off a horse ; the process of unseating a mounted individual ; forcibly causing a person to come down from horseback
3. Forcibly ejecting a person from horseback ; knocking someone off their horse ; causing a rider to lose their position on a horse through force or accident

Etymology: "Dehorses" is the third-person singular form of "dehorse," a verb that means to unseat or remove someone from a horse. It is built from the prefix "de-," meaning "down from" or "away from," attached to "horse," an Old English word (hors) of Germanic origin with no known Latin or Greek source. Together they describe the act of taking someone off the back of a horse. The verb itself is an old formation in English. Its clearest pattern is the family of "de-" verbs that reverse or undo an action, such as "dethrone," "defrock," and "dismount," so "dehorse" follows a familiar model. Its meaning is specific: it is used of a rider knocked or forced from the saddle, usually in combat or a tournament, rather than of someone simply getting off a horse by choice.

Synonyms: unhorse, dismount, topple, throw off

Antonyms: mount, seat, install