CAVALIER

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does Cavalier mean? 

• CAVALIER (noun)
  The noun CAVALIER has 2 senses:

1. a gallant or courtly gentleman

2. a royalist supporter of Charles I during the English Civil War

  Familiarity information: CAVALIER used as a noun is rare.

• CAVALIER (adjective)
  The adjective CAVALIER has 1 sense:

1. given to haughty disregard of others

  Familiarity information: CAVALIER used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CAVALIER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A gallant or courtly gentleman

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

cavalier; chevalier

Hypernyms ("cavalier" is a kind of...):

male aristocrat (a man who is an aristocrat)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A royalist supporter of Charles I during the English Civil War

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Cavalier; Royalist

Hypernyms ("Cavalier" is a kind of...):

monarchist; royalist (an advocate of the principles of monarchy)

• CAVALIER (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Given to haughty disregard of others

Synonyms:

cavalier; high-handed

Similar:

domineering (tending to domineer)

 Context examples 

They are cavaliers of Spain who have followed him in his exile.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A cavalier, mounted on a large steed, might be about ninety feet high.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel is a small spaniel with dark, round eyes that are large but not prominent.

(Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, NCI Thesaurus)

Nor was that wonderful, seeing how cavalier had been the captain's answer.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Martin followed the discussion closely, and while he was convinced that Olney was right, he resented the rather cavalier treatment he accorded Ruth.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

‘My ancestor, Sir Ralph Musgrave, was a prominent Cavalier and the right-hand man of Charles the Second in his wanderings,’ said my friend.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"It's all right. Get up, and don't be a goose, Jo," was the cavalier reply to her petition.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Fluttering veils and waving plumes filled the vehicles; two of the cavaliers were young, dashing-looking gentlemen; the third was Mr. Rochester, on his black horse, Mesrour, Pilot bounding before him; at his side rode a lady, and he and she were the first of the party.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

That heavy-faced cavalier who plucks his skirts and whispers in his ear is Lord Oliver de Clisson, known also as the butcher.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I don’t know whether you observed it, Watson, but the Colonel’s manner has been just a trifle cavalier to me.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)