demivolt

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a riding-school movement in which a horse makes a half-turn, especially with its forelegs raised so that it turns on the hind legs

   At the rider's signal, the horse executed a demivolt and faced the opposite direction.

Borrowed from French demi-volte, literally 'half-turn,' from demi, 'half,' + volte, 'turn.' Volte entered French from Italian volta, from voltare, 'to turn.' English dictionaries also record demivolte and the historical hyphenated spelling demi-volte.

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