Piaffe
noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A calm, composed, elevated trot in place.
- 2 a cadenced trot executed by the horse in one spot wordnet
- 1 To strut pretentiously, to parade about. archaic, rare
"Which loue you must know was ingendered in the sweet soile of Fraunce, where I piaffed like a bon companion, with a steele at my girdle, till the Friars (a canker of the curssed Covent) fell to drawing of naked knives, and kild indeed the good kind Henrie of Fraunce, the more was the pittie."
- 2 To trot a horse with a high, slow, step, lifting the feet but without moving forward significantly.
"To piaffe in backing is rather too much to be expected in the hurry which [etc.]."
- 3 To ride a horse in this way.
"Accordingly he piaffed away in high spirits and confidence to the head of Fergus's regiment, although understanding not a word of Gaelic, and very little English."
Example
More examples"Which loue you must know was ingendered in the sweet soile of Fraunce, where I piaffed like a bon companion, with a steele at my girdle, till the Friars (a canker of the curssed Covent) fell to drawing of naked knives, and kild indeed the good kind Henrie of Fraunce, the more was the pittie."
Etymology
From French.
Related phrases
More for "piaffe"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.