The word for today is…

dragoon (verb) – 1. To subjugate or persecute by the imposition of troops.
2. To compel by violent measures or threats; coerce.

(noun) – A member of a European military unit trained and armed to fight mounted or on foot.

Source : The Free Dictionary

Etymology : A dragoon was a mounted European infantryman of the 17th and 18th centuries armed with a firearm called by the same name. No arm-twisting should be needed to get you to believe that the firearm’s name, which came to English from French, is derived from its semblance to a fire-breathing dragon when fired. History has recorded the dragonish nature of the dragoons who persecuted the French Protestants in the 17th century during the reign of Louis XIV. The persecution by means of the dragoons led to the use of the word dragoon as a verb.

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Peter is a fourth-generation New Zealander, with his mother's and father's folks having arrived in New Zealand in the 1870s. He lives in Lower Hutt with his wife, some cats and assorted computers. His...