Cavalier is an interesting word, as it seems to emanate two different auras at once. The first is of some well-dressed, well-to-do gentleman strutting courteously around in knickerbockers, while the other is of someone perhaps taking things a little too lightly, at risk to themselves and others; laughing richly in the face of danger with a slightly dashing air.
When we look into the meaning of cavalier, we find that both impressions are true.
Our trusty Oxford Dictionaries tell us that as a noun, cavalier historically meant a supporter of King Charles I in the English Civil War (1640s), and also, a courtly gentleman, especially one acting as a lady’s escort. (There are also the horseman and the small spaniel breed prone to long snouts definitions, the latter perhaps indicative of the look of olden-day gentlemen, but more likely, of King Charles I himself. See image below.)
But it is when we come to the meaning of cavalier as an adjective that we find things start to tell even more of a story. Because as an adjective, cavalier is defined as “showing a lack of proper concern; offhand”.
So, do we then deduce that our King Charles I supporters and courtly gentlemen acting as ladies’ escorts, were perhaps a little offhand and not really as concerned with their King’s or their ladies’ welfare as they might have been? In King Charles I’ case, this perhaps could even have been a fatal lapse, as he lost both his civil wars and was then executed in 1649. This also led to the temporary abolition of the British monarchy and the equally temporary establishment of the republic of the Commonwealth of England. Hmmm.
In the case of our ladies, well, the news that their gentlemen were perhaps a little offhand in their approach, a little lacking in concern, a little ‘cavalier’, is probably no real surprise and some might say nothing much has changed. Well, the knickerbockers maybe.
So the message is, it may be fun to swish around being cavalier, laughing in the face of danger while lacking concern for others, but as King Charles I, his supporters (and possibly our ladies’ escorts too) discovered, you do so at your peril.
noun
1 historical a supporter of King Charles I in the English Civil War.
2 archaic a courtly gentleman, especially one acting as a lady’s escort.
3 a horseman, especially a cavalryman.
4 (also Cavalier King Charles) a small spaniel of a breed with a long snout.
adjective
showing a lack of proper concern; offhand: Anne was irritated by his cavalier attitude.
Derivatives
cavalierly (adverb)
Origin
mid 16th century: from French, from Italian cavaliere, based on Latin caballus ‘horse’.
Definitions source: The Oxford Dictionaries
* Portrait of King Charles I, by Anthony van Dyck, 1636