cavalry

noun cav·al·ry \ ˈka-vəl-rē , nonstandard ˈkal-və-rē \

Updated on: 14 Apr 2018

Definition of cavalry

plural cavalries

1 a : an army component mounted on horseback

b : an army component moving in motor vehicles or helicopters and assigned to combat missions that require great mobility

2 : horsemen

a thousand cavalry in flight

See cavalry defined for English-language learners

See cavalry defined for kids

Examples of cavalry in a Sentence

Cavalry is used to perform reconnaissance.
The cavalry were brought in to support the mission.

Recent Examples of cavalry from the Web

Then the cavalry arrived: A pod of 40-foot humpback whales charged to the scene, swam in circles around the gray whale and its calf, and then blew air through their blow holes to create a curtain of bubbles around them.

— tom stienstra, San Francisco Chronicle, "Whales, orcas converge in Monterey Bay," 2 Apr. 2018
The cavalry isn’t coming.’ In the weeks since the Parkland school shooting, big U.S. companies have found themselves in a familiar position: pressured to act on controversial social and political issues where government won’t.

— Bloomberg.com, "Fed Chair Jerome Powell Testifies to Congress," 1 Mar. 2018
After graduation from West Point in 1986, became an Army cavalry officer and fought in the first Gulf War.

— nancy a. youssef, WSJ, "With Mike Pompeo, a Voice More to Trump’s Liking," 13 Mar. 2018
Upon his arrival in San Felipe, Bonham penned a missive to Sam Houston offering his services gratis to Texas, and on Dec. 20 he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the cavalry.

— robert kolarik, San Antonio Express-News, "An answer from Goliad," 2 Mar. 2018
And with Democratic money playing defense for incumbents in Missouri, Indiana, West Virginia and elsewhere, Mr. O’Rourke expects no cavalry from Washington to come help him.

— michael tackett, New York Times, "The Lone Star Long Shot Who Wants to Topple Ted Cruz," 19 Feb. 2018
For all Nolan’s modernist techniques, his cavalry-is-coming cliff-hangers are eye-rollers — overlong, corny, and clunkily edited.

— zoe haylock, The Hollywood Reporter, "Oscars: Read Some of the Worst Reviews of This Year's Best Picture Nominees," 2 Mar. 2018
In 1863, more than 150 Dakota were massacred at Whitestone Hill, where the cavalry took out their vengeance for the war on many innocent Dakota by ambushing them.

— ruth hopkins, Teen Vogue, "Treaties Between the United States and Indigenous Nations, Explained," 24 Feb. 2018
With funding for new tanks drying up, Patton transferred back to the cavalry in despair, while Eisenhower took a staff job a year later.

— matthew moss, Popular Mechanics, "The Evolution of the American Tank," 12 Feb. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'cavalry.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.