Definition of "caparison" [ca•par•i•son]

• An ornamental covering for a horse or for its saddle or harness; trappings. (noun)
• Richly ornamented clothing; finery. (noun)
• To outfit (a horse) with an ornamental covering. (verb-transitive)
• To dress (another) in rich clothing. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "His caparison was another mortification and failure."
• "The riderless horse is known as a caparison, a custom that dates to the time of Genghis Khan."
• "Here and there were solitary pavilions of cataphracts brought low by the shiver-and-shake, some with horses waiting in full caparison, as if their masters expected to ride to battle."