cavalier

See also: Cavalier

English

Etymology

[1589] 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 kobyla 'mare'.

Previous English forms include cavalero and 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. (historical) Of or pertaining to the party of King Charles I.

Translations

not caring enough about something important

• Czech: nonšalantní (cs)
• Dutch: afstandelijk (nl),onverschillig (nl)

• French: nonchalant (fr) m
• Italian: noncurante (it)

high-spirited

• Bulgarian: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: laatdunkend (nl)

• Russian: ре́звый (ru) (rézvyj)

supercilious, haughty, disdainful

• Bulgarian: надменен (bg) (nadmenen)
• Czech: pyšný (cs), přezíravý
• Dutch: hooghartig (nl), misprijzend (nl)

• French: cavalier (fr) m
• Russian: надме́нный (ru) (nadménnyj), высокоме́рный (ru) (vysokomérnyj)

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.

Translations to be checked

• Bulgarian: ^{(please verify)} открит (bg) (otkrit), ^{(please verify)} честен (bg) (česten)

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

• (royalist): Roundhead

Translations

military man serving on horse

• Bulgarian: кавалерист (kavalerist)
• Finnish: ratsumies (fi)
• French: chevalier (fr) m
• Irish: marcach m
• Manx: markiagh m

• Russian: кавалери́ст (ru) m (kavaleríst)
• Scottish Gaelic: marcach m
• Spanish: caballero (es) m
• Tagalog: kabalyero (tl)

sprightly military man

• Bulgarian: рицар (bg) m (rícar)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 騎士 (zh), 骑士 (zh) (qíshì)

• Finnish: kavaljeeri (fi)

• French: cavalier (fr) m, chevalier (fr) m
• German: Kavalier (de) m
• Japanese: 騎士 (ja) (きし, kishi)
• Russian: ры́царь (ru) m (rýcarʹ), кавале́р (ru) m (kavalér)

well mannered man; a gentleman

• Bulgarian: кавалер (bg) (kavaler)
• Danish: kavaler c
• Finnish: herrasmies (fi)
• French: cavalier (fr) m

• German: Kavalier (de) m
• Portuguese: cavalheiro (pt) m
• Russian: кавале́р (ru) m (kavalér), ры́царь (ru) m (rýcarʹ)
• Spanish: caballero (es) m

type of defensive work

• Finnish: kavaljeeri (fi)

Verb

cavalier (third-person singular simple present cavaliers, present participle cavaliering, simple past and past participle cavaliered)

1. (transitive, dated) Of a man: to act in a gallant and dashing manner toward (women).
   • 1863, Charles Cowden Clarke, Shakespeare-characters; Chiefly Those Subordinate (page 427)

     His social and kind nature is inferred from his cavaliering the ladies Percy and Mortimer, and introducing them, before their husbands depart for the war.

   • 1916, Good Housekeeping (volume 64, page 113)

     "I thought," Graeme burred at him, transfixing him with shrewd eyes, "that you were cavaliering the Italian girl, Beatrice Cenci or Vittoria Colonna or whatever her name is?"

Anagrams

• variceal

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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)

Further reading

• “cavalier” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• calvaire