What is "cavalier"

Cavalier \Cav`a*lier"\ (k[a^]v`[.a]*l[=e]r"), n. [F. cavalier, It. cavaliere, LL. caballarius, fr. L. caballus. See Cavalcade, and cf. Chevalier, Caballine.]

1. A military man serving on horseback; a knight.

2. A gay, sprightly, military man; hence, a gallant.

3. One of the court party in the time of king Charles I. as contrasted with a Roundhead or an adherent of Parliament.
   --Clarendon.

4. (Fort.) A work of more than ordinary height, rising from the level ground of a bastion, etc., and overlooking surrounding parts.

Cavalier \Cav`a*lier"\, a. offhand; unceremonious; gay; easy; frank. Opposed to serious.

The plodding, persevering scupulous accuracy of the one, and the easy, cavalier, verbal fluency of the other, form a complete contrast.
--Hazlitt.

2. High-spirited. [Obs.] ``The people are naturally not valiant, and not much cavalier.''
--Suckling.

3. Supercilious; haughty; disdainful; curt; brusque.

4. Of or pertaining to the party of King Charles I. ``An old Cavalier family.''
--Beaconsfield.

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).\n

\nSense 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.

"disdainful," 1650s, from cavalier (n.). Earlier it meant "gallant" (1640s). Related: Cavalierly.

a. 1 Not caring enough about something important. 2 high-spirited. 3 supercilious; haughty; disdainful; curt; brusque. 4 Of or pertaining to the party of King Charles I. n. 1 A military man serving on horse. 2 A sprightly, military man; hence, a gallant. 3 One of the court party in the time of King Charles I, as contrasted with a Roundhead or an adherent of Parliament. 4 A work of more than ordinary height, rising from the level ground of a bastion, etc., and overlooking surrounding parts. 5 A well mannered man; a gentleman.

adj. given to haughty disregard of others [syn: high-handed]

1. n. a gallant or courtly gentleman [syn: chevalier]

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

Cavalier is an American magazine that was launched by Fawcett Publications in 1952 and has continued for decades, eventually evolving into a Playboy-style men's magazine. It has no connection with the Frank Munsey pulp, The Cavalier, published in the early years of the 20th century.

In its original format, Cavalier was planned by Fawcett to feature novelettes and novel excerpts by Fawcett's Gold Medal authors, including Richard Prather and Mickey Spillane.

Cavalier was a name first used by Roundheads as a term of abuse for the wealthier male Royalist supporters of King Charles I and his son Charles II of England during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration (1642 – c. 1679). It was later adopted by the Royalists themselves. Although it originally related to political and social attitudes and behaviour, of which clothing was a very small part, it has subsequently become strongly identified with the fashionable clothing of the court at the time. Prince Rupert, commander of much of Charles I's cavalry, is often considered to be an archetypal Cavalier.

A cavalier is a fortification which is built within a larger fortification, and which is higher than the rest of the work. It usually consists of a raised platform within a fort or bastion, so as to be able to fire over the main parapet without interfering with the fire of the latter. Through the use of cavaliers, a greater volume of fire can be obtained, but its great height also makes it an easy target for a besieger's guns.

There are two types of cavaliers:

• Common cavalier – a raised gun platform without any additional defensive features
• Defensible cavalier – a raised gun platform surrounded by a ditch. If the ditch cuts across the bastion's terreplein and is supported by cuts, the cavalier can also be considered as a retrenchment.

The Cavalier was one of the named passenger trains of the Norfolk and Western Railway. Originally running from Norfolk, Virginia to Cincinnati, Ohio, by 1957 trains 15 and 16 had been cut back to a Petersburg, Virginia to Portsmouth, Ohio run. Service to Norfolk was maintained by combining train 15 with train 27, and train 16 with train 22, the eastbound '' Cannonball.

Westbound, train 27 departed Norfolk at 10:15 pm and arrived at Petersburg at 12:01 am. Train 15 departed Petersburg at 12:35 am, and made selected stops before arriving at Roanoke, Virginia at 5:15 am, and a connection with the Southern Railway's The Pelican. After a 6:25 am departure from Roanoke, The Cavalier become a local, with scheduled or flag stops at most stations to Portsmouth, where it arrived at 5:45 pm.

Eastbound, departure from Portsmouth was at 12:20 pm, with an 11:35 pm arrival at Roanoke. Departing at 12:30 am, The Cavalier ran limited-stop to Petersburg, arriving at 4:55 am. The connecting Cannonball arrived at Norfolk at 7:30 am.

The Cavalier carried three sleeping cars, but not all at the same time. A Norfolk to Roanoke 10-roomette-6-double-bedroom car was carried in trains 27 and 22 from Norfolk to Petersburg and in The Cavalier from Peterburg to Roanoke. Also at Roanoke, sleeping cars were switched with The Pelican – a Petersburg to Bristol, Virginia 10-section-1-compartment-2-double-bedroom car would be exchanged for a Washington, D.C. to Williamson, West Virginia 10-roomette-6-double-bedroom car.

Also carried was a Roanoke to Williamson lounge-dining car.

Despite the small contribution it made to the Norfolk & Western's operating revenue, the company offered a wide variety of passenger trains to serve the public. Although there were relatively few people in its service area from which to draw patrons, N&W put its best foot forward. Named trains such as the Pocahontas, the Cavalier, and the famed all-coach Powhatan Arrow were but a part of a fleet including joint operations with other companies as well as branch line accommodations.

The Cavalier is a fictional supervillain in the DC Comics universe. The character first appeared in Detective Comics #81, (November 1943), and was created by Don Cameron and Bob Kane.

The Cavalier is a fictional character that appeared in comic books published by Nedor Comics. His first appearance was in Thrilling Comics #53 (April 1946). The Cavalier was later revived by Alan Moore for his work at America's Best Comics.

Cavalier is an album by Tom Brosseau, released in 2007.

The cavalier is a playable character class in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, and the related Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. It is a mounted warrior mostly in the service of good.