cavalier
/ˈkæ.vəˌlir/ adjective, noun, verb, proper noun
Forms cavaliers cavaliering cavaliered
- adjective Lacking the proper care or concern for something important, reckless, rash, high-handed.
- adjective High-spirited.
- adjective Supercilious.
- adjective (obsolete) Free and easy; unconcerned with formalities
- adjective (historical) Of or pertaining to the party of King Charles I of England (1600–1649).
- noun (historical) A military man serving on horse, (chiefly) early modern cavalry officers who had abandoned the heavy armor of medieval knights.
- noun (historical) A gallant: a sprightly young dashing military man.
- noun (historical) A gentleman of the class of such officers.
- noun (slang) Someone with an uncircumcised penis.
- noun (architecture) A defensive work rising from a bastion, etc., and overlooking the surrounding area.
- verb (transitive, dated) Of a man: to act in a gallant and dashing manner toward (women).
- proper noun A small city, the county seat of Pembina County, North Dakota, United States.
- noun (historical) A royalist partisan of Charles I of England during the English Civil War, especially from the upper classes.
- noun (dogs) A Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.
- noun (automobiles) A Chevrolet Cavalier.
Synonyms
dismissive offhand nonchalant haughty disdainful curt brusque chevalier Royalist high-handed
Antonyms
respectful earnest attentive stiff roundhead Parliamentarian
Etymology
First appears c. 1562 in a translation by Peter Whitehorne. Borrowed from Middle French cavalier (“horseman”), itself borrowed from Old Italian cavaliere (“mounted soldier, knight”), borrowed from Old Occitan cavalier, from Late Latin caballārius (“horseman”), from Latin caballus (“horse”), probably from Gaulish caballos 'nag', variant of cabillos (compare Welsh ceffyl, Breton kefel, Irish capall), akin to German (Swabish) Kōb 'nag' and Old Church Slavonic кобꙑла (kobyla) 'mare'. Previous English forms include cavalero and cavaliero. Doublet of caballero and chevalier.
Misspelling of Cavileer, after Charles Cavileer, an early settler.
From cavalier, q.v.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A military man serving on horseback; a knight.
- noun A gay, sprightly, military man; hence, a gallant.
- adjective Gay; easy; offhand; frank.
- adjective High-spirited. [Obs.] "The people are naturally not valiant, and not much cavalier." Suckling.
Etymology [F. cavalier, It. cavaliere, LL. caballarius, fr. L. caballus. See Cavalcade, and cf. Cavallier, Caballine.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “cavalier”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details