cavalier

See also: Cavalier

English

Etymology

[1589] Borrowed from Middle French cavalier (“horseman”),[1] itself borrowed from Old Italian cavaliere (“mounted soldier, knight”),[2], 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 kobyla 'mare'.

Previous English forms include cavalero, cavaliero.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˌkævəˈlɪəɹ/
  • Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)
  • Hyphenation: cav‧a‧lier

Adjective

cavalier (comparative more cavalier, superlative most cavalier)

  1. Not caring enough about something important.
    • 2012, Barbara Seaman, ‎Laura Eldridge, Voices of the Women's Health Movement (volume 1)
      Such a cavalier attitude might seem to suggest that doctors consider the uterus as dispensable an organ as, say, an appendix—and some feminists have accused the medical profession of just such callousness […]
  2. High-spirited.
  3. Supercilious
    Synonyms: haughty, disdainful, curt, brusque
  4. Of or pertaining to the party of King Charles I.

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Noun

cavalier (plural cavaliers)

  1. (historical) A military man serving on horse, (chiefly) early modern cavalry officers who had abandoned the heavy armor of medieval knights.
  2. (historical) A gallant: a sprightly young dashing military man.
  3. A gentleman of the class of such officers, particularly:
    1. (historical) A courtesan or noble under Charles I of England, particularly a royalist partisan during the English Civil War which ended his reign.
  4. (architecture) A defensive work rising from a bastion, etc., and overlooking the surrounding area.

Antonyms

Translations

References

  1. ↑ “cavalier” in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
  2. ↑ “cavalier” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2018.

Anagrams

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian cavaliere, itself borrowed from Old Occitan cavalier, from Late Latin caballārius. Doublet of chevalier, which was inherited.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ka.va.lje/
  • audio(file)

Noun

cavalier m (plural cavaliers, feminine cavalière)

  1. A horseman, particularly:
    • 1876, "C" in the Encyclopædia Britannica, 9th ed., Vol. IV, p. 616:
      ...before a in French an original c has the sound sh, and is spelt ch... Exceptions to this rule are generally words incorporated into classical French (i.e., the descendant of the old dialect of the Isle de France) from other dialects, as those of Normandy or Picardy, or are introduced from the Italian, as cavalier, &c.
    1. A knight.
    2. A cavalier: an early modern cavalry officer.
    3. A (horse-)rider.
  2. (chess, m) A knight
  3. (card games, m) A knight (in tarot)
  4. (m) A staple.
  5. (danse, m) A partner.
  6. (m) A date, a companion for social activities.

Adjective

cavalier (feminine singular cavalière, masculine plural cavaliers, feminine plural cavalières)

  1. equestrian
  2. cavalier (all senses)

See also

Chess pieces in French · pièces d'échecs (layout · text)
♚ ♛ ♜ ♝ ♞ ♟
roi dame tour fou cavalier pion

Further reading

Anagrams

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