Cayuse

Cay·use  (k-ys, kys)

n. pl. Cayuse or Cay·us·es

1.

a. A Native American people inhabiting northeast Oregon and southeast Washington.

b. A member of this people.

2.

a. The extinct traditional language of the Cayuse, not closely related to any other.

b. The dialect of Nez Perce spoken by the Cayuse in the 19th and 20th centuries.

---

cay·use  (k-ys, kys)

n. Pacific Northwest

A horse, especially an Indian pony.

---

[Short for cayuse pony, from Cayuse.]

Regional Note: The noun cayuse comes from the name of the Cayuse people in the Pacific Northwest. Cayuse is used chiefly in the territory of the word's originthe states of Washington, Oregon, and Idahoalthough its use has also spread into other Western states. A verb meaning "to buck," derived from the noun, is cited by Ramon F. Adams in Old-Time Cowhand (1961): "What cowboys in other sections called buckin', the Texan called pitchin', and a term used in South Texas, though seldom heard in other sections, was cayusein'."

---

cayuse [ˈkaɪuːs]

n

(Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Animals) Western US and Canadian a small American Indian pony used by cowboys

[from a Chinookan language]

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

cayuse - a small native range horse           Indian pony pony - a range horse of the western United States