Antonyms for cavalier
| Grammar : Adj |
| Spell : kav-uh-leer, kav-uh-leer |
| Phonetic Transcription : ˌkæv əˈlɪər, ˈkæv əˌlɪər |
Definition of cavalier
Origin :- 1580s, from Italian cavalliere "mounted soldier, knight; gentleman serving as a lady's escort," from Late Latin caballarius "horseman," from Vulgar Latin caballus, the common Vulgar Latin word for "horse" (and source of Italian cavallo, French cheval, Spanish caballo, Irish capall, Welsh ceffyl), displacing Latin equus (see equine).
- Sense advanced in 17c. to "knight," then "courtly gentleman" (but also, pejoratively, "swaggerer"), which led to the adjectival senses, especially "disdainful" (1650s). Meaning "Royalist adherent of Charles I" is from 1641. Meaning "one who devotes himself solely to attendance on a lady" is from 1817, roughly translating Italian cavaliere-servente. In classical Latin caballus was "work horse, pack horse," sometimes, disdainfully, "hack, nag." "Not a native Lat. word (as the second -a- would show), though the source of the borrowing is uncertain" [Tucker]. Perhaps from some Balkan or Anatolian language, and meaning, originally, "gelding." The same source is thought to have yielded Old Church Slavonic kobyla.
- adj arrogant
- And why should her father mistrust this splendid-looking Spanish cavalier?
- Extract from : « Fair Margaret » by H. Rider Haggard
- Treat this cavalier with all the respect and worship due to his birth and merits.
- Extract from : « Calderon The Courtier » by Edward Bulwer-Lytton
- At all events, I have not danced four dances in one evening with one cavalier.
- Extract from : « Graham's Magazine Vol. XXXII No. 2. February 1848 » by Various
- History has a cavalier way of recording the benefits of conquest.
- Extract from : « Mountain Meditations » by L. Lind-af-Hageby
- "The rest of the planking's sure to be gone by this time," continues the cavalier.
- Extract from : « Brighter Britain! (Volume 1 of 2) » by William Delisle Hay
- The keen eyes flashed after the disappearing figures of Sylvia and her cavalier.
- Extract from : « The Snare » by Rafael Sabatini
- Does every cavalier so think when a helpless woman turns to him in her distress?
- Extract from : « Love-at-Arms » by Raphael Sabatini
- Eleanor, on the other hand, found her cavalier more simple than herself.
- Extract from : « Two Penniless Princesses » by Charlotte M. Yonge
- How say you, Sirs—shall this cavalier have the ordering of the battle?
- Extract from : « Blackwoods Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 59, No. 366, April, 1846 » by Various
- The Japanese cavalier advanced with a succession of bows and smiles.
- Extract from : « The Child of Pleasure » by Gabriele D'Annunzio
Synonyms for cavalier
Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019