\Drag`on*nade"\ (dr[a^]g`[o^]n*n[=a]d"), n. [F., fr.
dragon dragoon, because Louis XIV., in persecuting the
Protestants of his kingdom, quartered dragoons upon them.]
The severe persecution of French Protestants under Louis
XIV., by an armed force, usually of dragoons; hence, a rapid
and devastating incursion; dragoonade.
      He learnt it as he watched the dragonnades, the
      tortures, the massacres of the Netherlands. --C.
                                               Kingsley.