cavalier (redirected from Cavalier (royalist))

cavalier (kăv'əlĭr`), in general, an armed horseman. In the English civil war the supporters of Charles I were called Cavaliers in contradistinction to the Roundheads, the followers of Parliament. The royalists used the designation until it was replaced by Tory.

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Cavalier

In the English Civil Wars, the name adopted by Charles I's supporters, who contemptuously called their opponents Roundheads (a reference to the short-haired apprentices who had formed part of an anti-Cavalier mob). The term (similar to the French chevalier) originally meant a rider or cavalryman. At the Restoration, the court party preserved the name Cavalier, which survived until the rise of the term Tory. See also Cavalier poet.

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cavalier

1. a gallant or courtly gentleman, esp one acting as a lady's escort

2. Archaic a horseman, esp one who is armed

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Cavalier

a supporter of Charles I during the English Civil War