cavalry
(ˈkævəlrɪ)
Forms: 6–7 cavallerie, -arie, 7 cavallery, cavalary, chavallery, cavellerie, cavelrie, 7– cavalry.
[In 16–17th c. cavallery, a. F. cavallerie (16th c. in Littré), ad. It. cavalleria (= Pr. cavalaria Sp. caballeria):—Romanic type caballaˈria, f. L. caballārius horseman. See -ery. (The native Fr. form of the word was chevalerie, whence Eng. chivalry.) Massinger (1632) accented caˈvallery, but other spellings appear to indicate ˈcavallery, whence also ˈcavalry in the middle of the 17th c. (See also chavallery, chivalry.)]
† 1. Horsemanship; chivalry. Obs.
| 1591 Harington Orl. Fur. 266 note, The likest to him for armes and cavallarie (as we terme it). 1625 Markham Souldier's Accid. i, The Cavallarie or Formes of Trayning of Horse-Troopes. 1644 Milton Educ. Wks. (1847) 101 All the Art of Cavalry. 1670 R. Lassels Voy. Italy (1698) II. 265 They tilt and use other sports of cavalry. |
† 2. Knighthood; an order of chivalry.
Obs.| 1601 Holland Pliny II. 460 Cicero..re-established the Knighthood and Cauallerie of Rome in their former estate and place. 1616 N. Brent tr. Sarpi's Hist. Counc. Trent (1676) 366 To institute a Religion of an hundred persons, like unto a Cavalary. 1625 Fletcher Fair Maid iii. i. 37 To keep off the Cavelrie and Gentry. 1632 Brome Court Begg. ii. i. Wks. 1873 I. 207 All The cavalry of Court. |
3. a. The collective name for horse-soldiers; that part of a military force which consists of mounted troops. Opposed to
infantry.
(Usually construed with plural
vb.,
exc. a cavalry, which has
pl. cavalries.)
| 1591 Garrard Art Warre 225 The companies of the couragious Cavallerie. 1598 Barret Theor. Warres v. i. 141. 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 1245 The cavallery of the Thebanes. 1622 Bacon Hen. VII, 74 You may haue a good Cauallerie, but neuer good stable Bands of Foot. 1632 Massinger Maid of Hon. ii. iii, I, in mine own person, With part of the cavallery. 1644 Milton Educ. (1738) 137 Two Troops of Cavalry. 1665 Manley Grotius' Low-C. Warrs 355 The Cavallery belonging to the United States. a 1714 Burnet Own Times an. 1694 (R.) They sent away their cavalry with so much haste. 1834 Gen. P. Thompson Exerc. (1842) III. 127 A struggle between the opposing cavalries, which shall keep itself in condition for action longest. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 592 The cavalry were about a thousand in number. |
b. transf. Horses, horsemen, etc., collectively.
| 1684 Dk. Beaufort's Progr. Wales (1864) 17 Leading horses to supply accidents and defects in the coach-cavalry. 1792 A. Young Trav. France 11 A traveller so weak in cavalry as myself. 1870 Disraeli Lothair, Troops of social cavalry cantered..in morning rides. 1881 A. J. Duffield Don Quix. II. 550 Donkeys..the ordinary Cavalry of Country Maids. |
c. (See
quot.)
| 1820 Hoyle's Games Impr. 347 A variation of Draughts entitled Constitutional Checkers. Ibid. 348 The pieces with the turrets to be considered as Cavalry, and the flat pieces as Infantry. Ibid., A king may not be taken backwards by Cavalry or Infantry unless they have been to king. |
4. attrib. and
Comb. cavalry charge,
cavalry day,
cavalry jacket,
cavalry man,
cavalry officer,
cavalry soldier, etc.;
cavalry curate, a curate who rode on horseback to perform his duties in an extensive and scattered parish;
cavalry twill (see
quot. 1957).
| 1872 Morley Voltaire (1886) 163 A daring *cavalry-charge. |
| 1894 G. H. Hamilton Charge 8 Mission Chapels—where the ‘*Cavalry Curates’ ought to reside. 1898 Westm. Gaz. 14 Jan. 1/3 The immense extent of many parishes, into some of which ‘Cavalry curates’ have been introduced with advantage. |
| 1837 H. Martineau Soc. Amer. III. 144 On *cavalry days, when guests are invited to dine with the regiment. |
| 1799 Instr. & Reg. Cavalry (1813) 266 The principles of all *cavalry evolutions. |
| 1861 Times 22 Oct., A blue *cavalry jacket. |
| 1860 Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. III. cxix. 61 *Cavalry-men on both sides. |
| 1838 Annual Scrap-Book 19 The amount of a tailor's bill, on fitting out his son as a *cavalry officer. 1854 Thackeray Newcomes vi, This distinguished cavalry officer swore very freely. 1903 Westm. Gaz. 5 Oct. 1/3, I bought him on the advice of two cavalry-officer friends who knew him. |
| 1852 Grote Greece ii. lxxvi. X. 77 A *cavalry-soldier..was reckoned as equivalent to four hoplites. |
| 1942 J. Hoye Staple Cotton Fabrics 146 The name *cavalry twill is used..for a steep double-twill-line whipcord made with colored yarns on 9 harnesses and in a tricotine weave. 1944 G. S. Brady Materials Handbk. (ed. 5) 188 Cavalry twill is not a cotton cloth, but is of worsted or rayon twill woven with a diagonal raised cord. 1953 S. D. Barney Clothes & Horse ix. 63 Cavalry Twill..was first made..during the early part of the First World War in khaki for Cavalry Regiments, hence the name. 1957 Textile Terms & Defs. (ed. 3) 24 Cavalry twill, a firm warp-faced cloth in which the weave gives steep double twill lines separated by pronounced grooves formed by the weft. 1959 J. Braine Vodi iv. 57 A cream silk shirt, fawn cavalry twill slacks and light brown suède shoes. |