DRAGOON (Fr.

See also:

• DRAGON (Fr. dragon, through Lat. draco, from the Greek; connected with SEpeoµay " see," and interpreted as " sharp-sighted "; O.H. Ger. tracho, dracho, M.H.G. trache, Mod. Ger. Drachen; A.S. draca, hence the equivalent English form " drake," " fire-drake,

dragon, Ger. Dragoner)  , originally a mounted soldier trained to fight on foot only (see CAVALRY) . This mounted infantryman of the late 16th and 17th centuries, like his comrades of the infantry who were styled " pike " and " shot," took his name from his weapon, a species of carbine or short musket called the " dragon." Dragoons were organized not in squadrons but in companies, like the foot, and their officers and non-commissioned officers bore infantry titles . The invariable tendency of the old-fashioned dragoon, who was always at a disadvantage when engaged against true cavalry, was to improve his horsemanship and armament to the cavalry standard . Thus dragoon " came to mean medium cavalry, and this significance the word has retained since the early wars of Frederick the Great, save for a few local and temporary returns to the original meaning . The phrases " to dragoon " and " dragonnade " bear witness to the mounted infantry period, this arm being the most efficient and economical form of cavalry for police work and guerrilla warfare . The " Dragonnades," properly so called, were the operations of the troops (chiefly mounted) engaged in enforcing Louis XIV.'s decrees against Protestants after the revocation of the edict of Nantes . In the British service the dragoons (1st Royals, 2nd Scots Greys, 6th Inniskillings) are heavy cavalry, the Dragoon Guards (seven regiments) are medium, as are the dragoons of other countries . The light cavalry of the British army in the 18th and early 19th century was for the most part called light dragoons . DRAGUIGNAN; the chief town of the department of the Var in S.E . France; 51 M . N.E. of Toulon, and 281 m . N.W. of Frejus by rail; situated at a height of 679 ft. above the level of the sea, at the southern foot of the wooded heights of Malmont, and on the left bank of the Nartuby river; pop .

(1906) 7766 . It possesses no notable buildings, save a

modern parish church, a prefecture, also modern, and a building wherein are housed the town library and a picture gallery, with some fair works of art . In modern times the ramparts have been demolished, and new wide streets pierced through the town ..