light horseman
1. A light-armed cavalry soldier.
| 1548 Patten Exped. Scotl. A ij b, Suche..lighte horsemen as were comen. 1558 Nottingham Rec. IV. 118 Consernyng the light horsse men settyng furthe. 1600 R. Churche tr. Fumée's Hist. Hungary 32 Certaine of his light horsemen (who are commonly called Vssarons). 1787 M. Cutler in Life, etc. (1888) I. 226 A light-horseman..was discovered near the bridge on the American side. |
| fig. 1899 Q. Rev. Apr. 461 It countenanced all the unscrupulous light-horsemen of debate. |
2. A slang name for one of a class of Thames thieves. (
Cf. horseman 5.)
| 1800 Colquhoun Comm. Thames 59 The gangs, denominated Light Horsemen were generally composed of one or more Receivers, together with Coopers, Watermen, and Lumpers. 1849 [see horseman 5]. 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. |
† 3. ‘An old name for the light boat, since called a gig’ (Smyth
Sailor's Word-bk.).
Obs.| 1600 J. Jane in Hakluyt Voy. III. 843 His long boat and light-horseman were lost at sea. 1634 Brereton Trav. (1844) 1 We came to Gravesend..in a light-horseman. 1656 Sir J. Finett For. Ambass. 220 Leaving a Light-horseman to be taken up for their baggage at Gravesend. |
† 4. A variety of fancy pigeons. (
Cf. horseman 3.)
Obs.| 1688 R. Holme Armoury ii. 244/2 Light Horse-men, a Bastard kind [of Pigeons] between a Cropper and a Carrier. |
5. † a. An early name of an Australian sea-fish, according to Morris
prob. the Sweep,
Scorpis æquipennis.
b. A West-Indian fish of the genus
Ephippus.
| 1789 W. Tench Exp. 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 ― Acc. Settlement Port Jackson 176 At the top of the list [of fish], as an article of food, stands a fish, which we named light-horseman. 1854 R. Owen in Circ. Sci. (c 1865) II. 51/1 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. |