cavalier

Meanings

Adjective

• Not caring enough about something important.
• High-spirited.
• Supercilious.
• Of or pertaining to the party of King Charles I of England (1600–1649).

Noun

• A military man serving on horse, early modern cavalry officers who had abandoned the heavy armor of medieval knights.
• A gallant: a sprightly young dashing military man.
• A gentleman of the class of such officers, particularly:
• Someone with an uncircumcised penis.
• A defensive work rising from a bastion, etc., and overlooking the surrounding area.

Verb

• Of a man: to act in a gallant and dashing manner toward (women).

Origin

• 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 кобꙑла 'mare'.
• Previous English forms include cavalero and cavaliero.