▪ I. cavalier, n. and a.
(kævəˈlɪə(r))
Forms: 6 cauallere, (cabbaleer, caueelere), 6–7 cavallier, 7 cavaliere, -leer(e, cavaglier, (by perversion) caviler, Sc. cavaleire, cavelleir, 6– cavalier. Also (from Spanish) 6 cavallero, cauilero, caualeiro, 6–7 cavaliero, 7 cavalero, 8 cavalliero.
[Originally adopted in the form cavallero, cavaliero, etc. from Sp., with occasional use of the It. and Pg. forms. The actual form cavalier is a. F. cavalier (16th c. in Littré), ad. It. cavaliere, f. cavallo horse + -iere, a termination often occurring in Italian for L. -ārius. The late L. caballārius (-ˈerius) ‘horseman’ gave Sp. caballero (OSp. cav-), Pg. cavalleiro, Pr. cavallier, ONF. cavailler, cavaler, OF. and F. chevalier, whence also Eng. chevalier.]
A. n.
1. A horseman, esp. a horse-soldier; a knight.
| [c 1470 Hors, Shepe, & G. (1822) 3 In duche a rider is called a Knyght, Aragon tonge doth also specyfye Caualero, which in that partie Is named of worship & toke begynnyng Of spores of gold and chiefly of rydyng. 1598 Barret Theor. Warres Gloss. 249 Cauaglere, an Italian word..signifieth a Gentleman seruing on horsebacke.] 1600 Hakluyt Voy. III. 691 That so many cavalleros should all faile in this one attempt. 1640–1 Kirkcudbr. War-Comm. Min. Bk. (1855) 51 That all brave cavaleires will tak the business to hart. 1656 Blount Glossogr., Cavalier, Cavalero, a knight or gentleman, serving on horseback, a man of arms. 1796 H. Hunter tr. St. Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) II. 526 Of our cavaliers, or of our foot-soldiers. 1807 Sir R. Wilson Jrnl. 2 July, I returned..decked with mud; but as my horse was seen to fall I did not appear as a dishonoured cavalier. 1870 Bryant Iliad I. iii. 97 A mute wonder held The Trojan cavaliers. |
2. a. A gentleman trained to arms, ‘a gay sprightly military man’ (J.); gen. a courtly gentleman, a gallant. (Like gallant, also applied about 1600, to a roistering swaggering fellow.)
| 1589 Pasquil's Ret. A iij, How now Caualiero, are you come to Scripture? 1593 Prodigal Son iii. 103 Our guest is a free-handed Cavalier. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, v. iii. 62 Ile drinke to M. Bardolfe, and to all the Cauileroes about London. 1599 Warn. Faire Wom. ii. 589 Some swaggering, swearing, drunken, desperate Dicke. Call we them Cabbaleers? masse, they be Canniballes. 1600 Rowlands Lett. Humours Blood 3 Humours is late crown'd king of Caueeleres. 1641 J. Jackson True Evang. T. iii. 175 The tidings..brought not to cavalliers, but to quiet and simple Shepherds. 1651 Life Father Sarpi (1676) 25 Signor Alphonso Antomini a Cavaglier of the most sublime vertues. 1670 Cotton Espernon i. iv. 170 Some little dispute..which had oblig'd him to seek the satisfaction of a Cavalier. 1777 Garrick Prol. Sheridan's Sch. Scand., He'll fight—that's write—a cavalliero true. 1867 Emerson May-day Wks. (Bohn) III. 413 To greet staid ancient cavaliers. |
b. A gentleman attending upon or escorting a lady, a ‘gallant’, a ‘squire’ (cf. 5); a lady's partner in a dance.
| 1752 C. Lennox Fem. Quix. II. ix. ii. 213 The rest of the cavaliers and ladies. 1765 Sterne Tr. Shandy vii. xliii, I'll take a dance, said I..we want a cavalier, said she, holding out both her hands, as if to offer them. 1825 Lytton Zicci 34 He wants to be your cavalier, not your husband. 1829 ― Disowned 99 Do come, Mr. Linden will be our cavalier. [1847 Thackeray Mrs. Perkins's Ball, Cavalier seul, This is my friend Bob Hely, performing the Cavalier seul in a quadrille.] |
c. As a title or term of address.
| 1589 Nashe (title), The Return of the Renowned Caualiero Pasquill, etc. 1598 Shakes. Merry W. ii. iii. 77 Caualeiro Slender, goe you through the Towne to Frogmore. |
3. A name given to those who fought on the side of Charles I in the war between him and the Parliament; a 17th c. Royalist.
Originally reproachful, and applied to the swash-bucklers on the king's side, who hailed the prospect of war; cf. cavalierish, -ism.
| 1641–2 [see quot. 1651]. 1642 D'Ewes MS. Journ. 10 Jan. 1641 (Harl. MS. 162 lf. 312 b) Certain Hamletters..informed vs of some of the Ingeneers in the Tower to be dangerous men and that some caualiers had gone in thither. 1642 Ld. Kimbolton's Sp. in Parl. 4 (not authentic) Ill affected cavaleers and commanders about the Court. 1642 (June 10) Propositions of Parlt. in Clarendon v. (1702) I. 504 Several sorts of malignant Men, who were about the King; some whereof, under the name of Cavaliers, without having respect to the Laws of the Land, or any fear either of God or Man, were ready to commit all manner of Outrage and Violence. 1642 Petition Lords & Com. 17 June in Rushw. Coll. iii. (1721) I. 631 That your Majesty..would please to dismiss your extraordinary Guards, and the Cavaliers and others of that Quality, who seem to have little Interest or Affection to the publick Good, their Language and Behaviour speaking nothing but Division and War. 1642 Chas. I Answ. Petition 17 June 13 The language and behaviour of the Cavaliers (a word by what mistake soever it seemes much in disfavour). 1642 Catal. Pamphlets Harl. Libr. xxiii. 101/1 No. 325 A Perfect Declaration of the barbarous and cruel Practices committed by Prince Robert, the Cavalliers, and others in his Majesty's Army. 1651 Lilly Monarchy 107 [Speaking of what he witnessed during Christmas of 1641–2] The Courtiers againe, wearing long Haire and locks, and alwayes Sworded, at last were called by these men [the Puritans] Cavaliers; and so after this broken language had been used a while, all that adhered unto the Parlament were termed Round-heads; all that tooke part or appeared for his Majestie, Cavaliers, few of the vulgar knowing the sence of the word Cavalier. 1656 Cromwell Sp. 17 Sept., Your old enemies, the Papists and Cavaliers. 1656 R. Lane in Hatton Corr. (1878) 14 The poore cavilers are by proclamation banishd the towne. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 125 ¶1 When the Feuds ran high between the Round-heads and the Cavaliers. 1864 H. Spencer Illustr. Univ. Progr. 62 The Puritans, disapproving of the long curls of the Cavaliers, as of their principles. |
4. Fortification. ‘A work generally raised within the body of the place, ten or twelve feet higher than the rest of the works{ddd}to command all the adjacent works and country round’ (Stocqueler).
| 1560 Whitehorne Ord. Souldours (1573) 18 b, Cavaliers or platformes. 1590 Marlowe 2nd Pt. Tamburl. ii. iv. 102 Raise cavalieros higher than the clouds, And with the cannon break the frame of heaven. 1598 Barret Theor. Warres v. i. 126 These Caualleres ought in no wise to be made within the bulwarkes. 1670 Cotton Espernon i. i. 23 He rais'd by the industry of an Italian Engineer, a Cavalier. 1799 Baird in Owen Disp. Wellesley 127 The whole of the ramparts, and every cavalier in the fort, were..in the possession of our troops. 1860 Times 3 Nov. 7/6 In the centre of the front face..is a high cavalier mounting two large brass guns. |
‖ 5. cavalier-servant, or in It. form cavaliere-servente (F. cavalier-servant): a man who devotes himself wholly to attendance on a lady as her professed slave, either from love or from gratitude. Hence cavalier servitude, cavaliere-serventism (nonce-formations).
| 1817 Byron Beppo xl. 1820 ― Let. Wks. (1846) 153/1 The conventual education, the cavalier servitude. 1823 ― Juan ix. li, Which hovers oft about some married beauties, Called ‘Cavalier Servente’. 1878 Fraser's Mag. XVIII. 38 Neither married life nor conventional cavaliere-serventism was prolific of inspiration. |
B. attrib. or adj.
† 1. a. Gallant. Obs.
| a 1641 Suckling Fragm. Aurea (1648) 94 The people are naturally not valiant, and not much cavalier. |
† b. Of things: Fine, ‘brave’, ‘gallant’. Obs.
| 1670 R. Lassels Voy. Italy I. 130 One of the most cavalier curiositys a man can see in Italy. |
2. a. Careless in manner, off-hand, free and easy. b. Haughty, disdainful, supercilious.
| 1657 M. Hawke Killing is M. To Rdr., Cavalier and nimble wits. 1751 Smollett Per. Pic. (1779) II. xxxvii. 25 This cavalier declaration of the young man. 1817 M. Edgeworth Ormond xiv. (1832) 149 Very cavalier, indeed, to go out to walk, without waiting to see us. 1865 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. VI. xvi. xv. 314 This cavalier tone from an unknown person..did not please me. |
3. In reference to the 17th c.: Royalist.
| 1844 Disraeli Coningsby iii. iii. (L.) An old Cavalier family. 1868 Q. Rev. 259 Robert South was the very type of a Cavalier preacher in the proper sense of the term. |
4. attrib. and Comb., as cavalier riding habit; cavalier cuff, a cuff of gauntlet shape; cavalier-hat, a hat with a feather worn by ladies in imitation of those worn by the Royalists in the time of Charles I; cavalier-poet (applied to Lovelace).
| 1666 Evelyn Dairy 13 Sept., The Queene was now in her cavalier riding habite, hat and feather, and horseman's coate. 1860 Sala Make Your Game 151 (Hoppe) Ladies with ravishing bonnets and cavalier-hats. 1879 M{supc}Carthy Own Times (Hoppe) The fine lines of the cavalier-poet, which remind his mistress that he could not love her so much, loved he not honour more. 1902 Daily Chron. 17 Aug. 8/3 The cavalier cuff of stiffened velvet. 1923 Daily Mail 1 Mar. 6 Sleeves that end in a flounce..—gowns with no sleeves at all—Cavalier cuffs—there is infinite variety. |
Hence cavaˈlieress (nonce-wd.); cavaˈliership.
| 1872 Mark Twain Innoc. at Home xxi. (Hoppe) Every street was..packed with charging cavaliers and cavalieresses. 1594 Nashe Unfort. Trav. Wks. 1883–4 V. 60 Did I cashier the new vocation of my caualiership? 1596 ― Saffron-Walden Wks. 1883–4 III. 153 His Caualiership..is lewder by nine score times than his Poetry. |
▪ II. cavaˈlier, v.
[f. prec. n.]
a. intr. To play the cavalier. b. trans. To act as cavalier or escort to (a lady). Hence cavaˈliering vbl. n.
| 1594 Nashe Terrors Night Wks. 1883–4 III. 279 Bridewell or Newgate prooue the ende of your caueleering. |
| 1693 Shadwell Volunteers i. i, I must fly from the University forsooth to run a cavaliering. 1748–61 Richardson Clarissa (1811) VII. 171 Cavaliering it here over half a dozen persons of distinction. 1863 Mrs. C. Clarke Shaks. Char. xvi. 427 From his cavaliering the ladies Percy and Mortimer. |