Cossack

  1. Noun.  A member or descendant of an originally (semi-)nomadic population of Eastern Europe and the adjacent parts of Asia, that eventually settled in parts of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Russian tsarist Empire (where they constituted a legendary military caste) and the Soviet Union, particularly in areas now comprising southern Russia and Ukraine.
  2. Noun.  A cossack, member of a military unit (typically cavalry, originally recruited exclusively from the above).

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This entry was last updated on RefTopia from its source on 3/20/2012.