Dictionary

cavesson en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈkæv.ɪ.sən/
• /ˈkæv.ə.sən/

Etymology

From French caveçon, from Italian cavezzone, augmentative of cavezza (“halter”), probably from Latin caput (“head”), although derivation from Germanic has also been suggested; compare Old English cæfl (“bit, muzzle”).

Meanings

1. A part of a horse's bridle that consists of a headstall with a noseband. When a martingale is used, it is attached to the horse's head at the cavesson.
   • For many horses the best bit to use in the field is a plain snaffle, with very large rings, so that the bit cannot be pulled through the horse’s mouth. The bridle should have a cavesson, instead of the usual noseband. 1912, Belle Beach, Riding and Driving for Women, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons:
   • I’ll be bound, Lady Ashton understands every machine for breaking in the human mind, and there are as many as there are cannon-bit, martingales, and cavessons for young colts. 1819, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], Tales of My Landlord, Third Series. […], volume III (The Bride of Lammermoor), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 8:

Forms

Deriveds

lungeing cavesson · longeing cavesson

Translations (4)

es cabezón (part of a horse's bridle) · de Kappzaum (part of a horse's bridle) · fr caveçon (part of a horse's bridle) · vo knibamütöm (part of a horse's bridle)