The popular nineteenth-century stereotype of the Southerner was that of a cavalier, who was alleged to be violently sensitive to insult, indifferent to money, and preoccupied by honor
disapproval If you describe a person or their behaviour as cavalier, you are criticizing them because you think that they do not consider other people's feelings or take account of the seriousness of a situation. The Editor takes a cavalier attitude to the concept of fact checking. a supporter of the King against parliament in the English Civil War of the 17th century Roundhead. not caring enough about rules, principles, or people's feelings (cavaliere, from caballarius , from caballus ). 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
A military man serving on horseback; a knight A gay, sprightly, military man; hence, a gallant Gay; easy; offhand; frank High-spirited Supercilious; haughty; disdainful; curt; brusque