[a. F. cadet, in 15th c. capdet, a. Pr. capdet:—Romanic type *capitetto, dim. of L. caput, capit- head; hence, little chief, inferior head of a family. Cf. also CADDEE, CADDIE, CAD.]
1. A younger son or brother.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit., I. 463. From a younger brother or cadet of this house.
1671. Crowne, Juliana, Ep. Ded. A iv. Leave that as a thread-bare portion to the Cadets.
1689. Swift, Ode to Temple, Wks. 1755, IV. I. 245. Poor we, cadets of heaven, Take up at best with lumber.
c. 1726. Vanbrugh, False Fr., I. i. I am a cadet, and by consequence not rich.
1869. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), II. viii. 210. Spiritual preferments being turned into means of maintenance for cadets or bastards of the royal house.
b. A younger branch of a family; a member of a younger branch.
1690. Locke, Govt., I. ix. § 25. A Cadet, or Sister’s Son, must have the Preference.
1726. Wodrow, Corr. (1843), III. 238. I suppose his family was a cadet of your Lordship’s family.
c. The youngest son.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., 348. Joseph was the youngest of twelve, and David the eleventh sonne, and but the caddet of Jesse.
1748. Smollett, Rod. Rand. (1812), I. 19. The cadet of a family.
2. A gentleman who entered the army without a commission, to learn the military profession and find a career for himself (as was regularly done by the younger sons of the French nobility before the Revolution). b. A junior in the East India Company’s service. See also CADDEE, CADDIE.
1651. Howell, Venice, 7. This may be one reason why she connives at so many Courtisans for the use of the Cadett-gentlemen.
[1652. Evelyn, St. France, Misc. Writ. (1805), 84. The cadets and younger brothers minding for the most part no greater preferments than what they cut out with their sword.]
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Cadet, or Cadee, a Gentleman that Bears Arms in hopes of a Commission.
1691. Lond. Gaz., No. 2719/2. The Elector of Saxony … adds a Company of Cadets.
1704. Defoe, in Hymn to Victory, lxx. 7, in Wks. 1705, II. 151. She serves Cadet and Voluntier.
1768. Simes, Mil. Medley. A cadet serves without pay.
1772. Foote, Nabob, I. 9. Go out Cadets and Writers in the Company’s Service.
1816. ‘Quiz,’ Grand Master, I. 10. His kit’s pack’d up, and off he’s set, To try his fortune—a cadet.
3. A student in a military or naval college.
1775. Swinburne, Trav. Spain, xliv. (1779), 407 (L.). The royal apartments are now occupied by a college of young gentlemen cadets, educated at the king’s expence in all the sciences requisite for forming an engineer.
1788. Ld. Auckland, Diary, in Corr. (1861), II. 91. An establishment of one hundred young cadets for the army.
a. 1845. Hood, To J. Hume, iv. Watch Sandhurst too, its debts and its Cadets.
1860. Dickens, Lett. (1880), II. 122. Sydney has just passed his examination as a naval cadet.
Cadetcy. [see -CY.] = CADETSHIP 2.
