Unhorsen

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To knock or throw a person down from a horse, especially in combat or competition
2. To dislodge or unseat someone who is riding on a horse
3. To cause someone mounted on a horse to fall or be removed from their mount

Etymology: To unhorse someone was to knock a rider out of the saddle, and that literal sense is built into the word. It combines the prefix "un-", here meaning "remove from," with "horse," so "unhorse" means to take a horse away from its rider, usually in a fight or joust. "Unhorsen" is the older past-participle form, the kind of ending seen in "forsaken" or "shaken," so it describes a rider who has already been thrown from the saddle. Its meaning comes straight from the battlefield or tilt-yard, where being unseated was a real and dangerous event.

Synonyms: unseat, dislodge, dismount

Antonyms: mount