Definition of "caparison"

caparison

noun
plural caparisons
1. The often ornamental coverings for an animal, especially a horse or an elephant.
  Quotations
  And the green of the caparison of the horse, and of his rider, was as green as the leaves of the fir-tree, and the yellow was as yellow as the blossom of the broom.
  1861, Charlotte Guest, transl., The Mabinogion/The Dream of Rhonabwy, translation of original in Middle Welsh
  That very year they received an order from Gustaf II Adolf of Sweden (1594-1632) for a large number of tapestries and four caparisons.
  2001, Walter A. Liedtke, Vermeer and the Delft School‎, page 520
2. Gay or rich clothing.
  Quotations
  What boots it, that my Fortune decks me thus / With unſubſtantial Plumes; when my Heart groans / Beneath the gay Capariſon, and Love / With unrequited Paſſion wounds my Soul!
  1749, [Tobias George Smollett], The Regicide: Or, James the First, of Scotland. A Tragedy. […], London: […] [F]or the benefit of the author, Act III, scene iv, page 37
verb
third-person singular simple present caparisons, present participle caparisoning, simple past and past participle caparisoned
1. To dress up a horse or elephant with ornamental coverings.
  Quotations
  Come, bustle, bustle; caparison my horse
  1593, Shakespeare, Richard III, Act 5, Scene 3