cavalier

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: Cav=a=lier

CIDE DICTIONARY

cavalier, n. [F. cavalier, It. cavaliere, LL. caballarius, fr. L. caballus. See Cavalcade, and cf. Chevalier, Caballine.].

•  A military man serving on horseback; a knight.  [1913 Webster]
•  A gay, sprightly, military man; hence, a gallant.  [1913 Webster]
•  One of the court party in the time of king Charles I. as contrasted with a Roundhead or an adherent of Parliament.  Clarendon.  [1913 Webster]
•  A work of more than ordinary height, rising from the level ground of a bastion, etc., and overlooking surrounding parts.  [1913 Webster]

cavalier, a. 

•  offhand; unceremonious; gay; easy; frank. Opposed to serious.  [1913 Webster]

  "The plodding, persevering scupulous accuracy of the one, and the easy, cavalier, verbal fluency of the other, form a complete contrast."  Hazlitt.  [1913 Webster]
•  High-spirited.  Suckling.  [1913 Webster]
•  Supercilious; haughty; disdainful; curt; brusque.  [1913 Webster]
•  Of or pertaining to the party of King Charles I.  Beaconsfield.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

cavalier, n. & adj.
--n.
1 hist. (Cavalier) a supporter of Charles I in the Civil War.
2 a courtly gentleman, esp. as a lady's escort.
3 archaic a horseman.
--adj. offhand, supercilious, blas{eacute}.

Derivative

cavalierly adv.

Etymology

F f. It. cavaliere: see CHEVALIER

THESAURUS

cavalier

Bayard, Casanova, Don Juan, Don Quixote, Gawain, Lancelot, Lothario, Ritter, Romeo, Sidney, Sir Galahad, abrupt, aggressive, amoroso, arrogant, bachelor, banneret, baronet, bearish, beastly, beau, bluff, blunt, bodyguard, boyfriend, brash, broncobuster, brusque, buckaroo, caballero, cavaliere servente, cavalryman, chaperon, chevalier, churlish, circus rider, companion, conductor, contemptuous, contumelious, convoy, cowboy, cowgirl, cowpuncher, crusty, curt, disdainful, dismissive, duenna, equestrian, equestrienne, escort, esquire, fellow, fellow traveler, flame, gallant, gaucho, gigolo, gruff, guard, harsh, haughty, high-and-mighty, horse soldier, horseback rider, horsebacker, horseman, horsewoman, inamorato, insolent, jockey, knight, knight bachelor, knight banneret, knight baronet, knight-errant, lady-killer, lofty, love-maker, man, mounted policeman, necker, old man, overbearing, petter, philanderer, postboy, postilion, puncher, rider, rough, roughrider, safe-conduct, seducer, severe, sharp, sheik, shepherd, short, snippy, squire, steeplechaser, sugar daddy, supercilious, superior, surly, swain, trick rider, truculent, usher, vaquero, young man

ROGET THESAURUS

cavalier

Rashness

N rashness, temerity, want of caution, imprudence, indiscretion, overconfidence, presumption, audacity, precipitancy, precipitation, impetuosity, levity, foolhardihood, foolhardiness, heedlessness, thoughtlessness, carelessness, desperation, Quixotism, knight-errantry, fire eating, gaming, gambling, blind bargain, leap in the dark, leap of faith, fool's paradise, too many eggs in one basket, desperado, rashling, madcap, daredevil, Hotspur, fire eater, bully, bravo, Hector, scapegrace, enfant perdu, Don Quixote, knight-errant, Icarus, adventurer, gambler, gamester, dynamitard, boomer, rash, incautious, indiscreet, imprudent, improvident, temerarious, uncalculating, heedless, careless, without ballast, heels over head, head over heels, giddy, wanton, reckless, wild, madcap, desperate, devil-may-care, hot-blooded, hotheaded, hotbrained, headlong, headstrong, breakneck, foolhardy, harebrained, precipitate, impulsive, overconfident, overweening, venturesome, venturous, adventurous, Quixotic, fire eating, cavalier, janty, jaunty, free and easy, off one's guard, post haste, a corps perdu, hand over head, tete baissee, headforemost, happen what may, come what may, neck or nothing, the devil being in one, non semper temeritas est felix, paucis temeritas est bono multis malo.

Insolence

N insolence, haughtiness, arrogance, airs, overbearance, domineering, tyranny, impertinence, sauciness, flippancy, dicacity, petulance, procacity, bluster, swagger, swaggering, bounce, terrorism, assumption, presumption, beggar on horseback, usurpation, impudence, assurance, audacity, hardihood, front, face, brass, shamelessness, effrontery, hardened front, face of brass, assumption of infallibility, saucebox, insolent, haughty, arrogant, imperious, magisterial, dictatorial, arbitrary, high-handed, high and mighty, contumelious, supercilious, overbearing, intolerant, domineering, overweening, high-flown, flippant, pert, fresh, cavalier, saucy, forward, impertinent, malapert, precocious, assuming, would-be, bumptious, bluff, brazen, shameless, aweless, unblushlng, unabashed, brazen, boldfaced-, barefaced-, brazen-faced, dead to shame, lost to shame, impudent, audacious, presumptuous, free and easy, devil-may-care, rollicking, jaunty, janty, roistering, blustering, hectoring, swaggering, vaporing, thrasonic, fire eating, full of sound and fury, with a high hand, ex cathedra, one's bark being worse than his bite, beggars mounted run their horse to death, quid times? Caesarem vehis, wagahai wa (expressing superiority).

Discourtesy

N discourtesy, ill breeding, ill manners, bad manners, ungainly manners, insuavity, uncourteousness rusticity, inurbanity, illiberality, incivility displacency, disrespect, procacity, impudence: barbarism, barbarity, misbehavior, brutality, blackguardism, conduct unbecoming a gentleman, grossieret_e, brusquerie, vulgarity, churlishness, spinosity, perversity, moroseness, sternness, austerity, moodishness, captiousness, cynicism, tartness, acrimony, acerbity, virulence, asperity, scowl, black looks, frown, short answer, rebuff, hard words, contumely, unparliamentary language, personality, bear, bruin, brute, blackguard, beast, unlicked cub, frump, crosspatch, saucebox, crooked stick, grizzly, discourteous, uncourteous, uncourtly, ill-bred, ill-mannered, ill-behaved, ill-conditioned, unbred, unmannerly, unmannered, impolite, unpolite, unpolished, uncivilized, ungenteel, ungentleman-like, ungentlemanly, unladylike, blackguard, vulgar, dedecorous, foul- mouthed foul-spoken, abusive, uncivil, ungracious, unceremonious, cool, pert, forward, obtrusive, impudent, rude, saucy, precocious, repulsive, uncomplaisant, unaccommodating, unneighborly, ungallant, inaffable, ungentle, ungainly, rough, rugged, bluff, blunt, gruff, churlish, boorish, bearish, brutal, brusque, stern, harsh, austere, cavalier, taint, sour, crabbed, sharp, short, trenchant, sarcastic, biting, doggish, caustic, virulent, bitter, acrimonious, venomous, contumelious, snarling, surly, surly as a bear, perverse, grim, sullen, peevish, untactful, impolitic, undiplomatic, artless, discourteously, with discourtesy, with a bad grace.

Traveler

N traveler, wayfarer, voyager, itinerant, passenger, commuter, tourist, excursionist, explorer, adventurer, mountaineer, hiker, backpacker, Alpine Club, peregrinator, wanderer, rover, straggler, rambler, bird of passage, gadabout, gadling, vagrant, scatterling, landloper, waifs and estrays, wastrel, foundling, loafer, tramp, tramper, vagabond, nomad, Bohemian, gypsy, Arab, Wandering Jew, Hadji, pilgrim, palmer, peripatetic, somnambulist, emigrant, fugitive, refugee, beach comber, booly, globegirdler, globetrotter, vagrant, hobo, night walker, sleep walker, noctambulist, runabout, straphanger, swagman, swagsman, trecker, trekker, zingano, zingaro, runner, courier, Mercury, Iris, Ariel, comet, pedestrian, walker, foot passenger, cyclist, wheelman, rider, horseman, equestrian, cavalier, jockey, roughrider, trainer, breaker, driver, coachman, whip, Jehu, charioteer, postilion, postboy, carter, wagoner, drayman, cabman, cabdriver, voiturier, vetturino, condottiere, engine driver, stoker, fireman, guard, chauffeur, conductor, engineer, gharry-wallah, gari-wala, hackman, syce, truckman, on the road.

Contempt

N contempt, disdain, scorn, sovereign contempt, despisal, despiciency, despisement, vilipendency, contumely, slight, sneer, spurn, by-word, despect, contemptuousness, scornful eye, smile of contempt, derision, despisedness, contemptuous, disdainful, scornful, withering, contumelious, supercilious, cynical, haughty, bumptious, cavalier, derisive, contemptible, despicable, pitiable, pitiful, despised, downtrodden, unenvied, unrespectable (unworthy), contemptuously, Int, a fig for, bah!, never mind!, away with!, hang it!, fiddlededee!, a dismal universal hiss, the sound of public scorn, I had rather be a dog and bay the moon than such a.