Forms: 4 chevaller, 4, 7 chivaler, 5 chyvalour, -er, cheveler(e, chevaler(e, 5–6 chyvaller, 6 chivallier, chevillere, -ailer, -alour, (chevelrier), 7 (shavileir), chivalier, chevaliere, 6– chevalier. [ME. a. AF. chevaler, chivaler, OF. and mod.F. chevalier = Pr. cavallier, Sp. caballero, Pg. cavalleiro, It. cavaliere:—L. type caballāri-us horseman, f. caballus horse. The mod. repr. of this would have been che·valer, or chi·valer (cf. chivalry); but since the 16th c. the word has been refashioned after mod. Fr.]
1. A horseman; esp. a mounted soldier, a knight. (Now only Hist. or archaic.)
[1292. Britton, I. xiii. § 1. Gentz de religioun, clercs, et chivalers, et lour fiz eynznez.]
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XIX. 99. Ȝowre champioun chiualer, Chief knyȝt of ȝow alle.
c. 1440. Partonope, 918. He hath with hym dyuers Chyvalours Of Norwey … and Denmark nacioun.
c. 1440. York Myst., xvi. 52. Knyghthes I comaunde … Þas churles as cheueleres ye chastise & chase.
1475. Bk. Noblesse (1860), 15. The seyd erle made ser John Fastolfe chevaler his lieutenaunt.
1500–20. Dunbar, Remonstr. to King, 10. Chevalouris, callandaris, and flingaris.
1587. M. Grove, Pelops & Hipp. (1878), 33. Among the troupe of chyuallers, one Pelops doth arise.
1591. Troub. Raigne K. John (1611), C iij b. They saw from out their highest towers The Cheualiers of France and crosse-bow-shot Make lanes of slaughtered bodies through thine hoast.
1662. Fuller, Worthies, I. xiv. Knights for the Shire in the Parliament … and, if with the addition of Chivaler or Miles … Knights by dubbing, before of that their Relation.
1691. Wood, Ath. Oxon., I. 164. Carried to his grave by 4 Irish chevaliers.
1848. Lytton, Harold, I. iii. Sacred abbots and noble chevaliers—Normans all.
b. A member of certain orders of knighthood; and of modern French orders, as the Legion of Honour.
1728. Morgan, Algiers, I. 317. During the short Reign of our promising King Edward VI. the Chevaliers [Knights of St. John] could do nothing here.
1855. Motley, Dutch Rep. (1864), I. 42. The order of the Golden Fleece…. The chevaliers were emperors, kings, princes, [etc.].
c. The Chevalier or Chevalier de St. George: a name applied to James Stuart, son of James II., the ‘Old Pretender.’ The Young Chevalier: Charles Edward Stuart, the ‘Young Pretender.’
1726. Amherst, Terræ Filius (1741), 194. Of late the chevalier has been mention’d with an air of importance in our newspapers, as if he were really some-body.
17[?]. Jacobite Song. Charlie is my darling, The young Chevalier.
1788. H. Walpole, Remin., iii. 25. A letter … addressed, I think, to the Chevalier de St. George.
1814. Scott, Wav., lvii. About the beginning of November the Young Chevalier … resolved to peril his cause on an attempt to penetrate into the centre of England. Ibid. (1824), Redgauntlet, ch. i. He spoke sometimes of the Chevalier, but never either of the Prince, which would have been sacrificing his own principles, or of the Pretender, which would have been offensive to those of others.
1846. J. Baxter, Libr. Pract. Agric., I. Introd. 2.
d. Applied to the cadets of the Old French noblesse, who embraced a military career.
1839–40. W. Irving, Wolfert’s R. (1855), 99. His house immediately became the rallying-place of all the young French chevaliers.
1872. Morley, Voltaire (1886), 53, note. Chevalier appears to have been a title given by courtesy to the cadets of certain great families.
2. As an appellation of honor: A chivalrous man; a lady’s cavalier; a gallant.
1630. Dekker, 2nd Pt. Honest Wh., Wks. 1873, II. 159. Let who will come (my Noble Shauileir).
1711. ‘J. Distaff,’ Char. Don Sacheverellio, 9. O Chevalier! worthy to be call’d St. George.
1843. Carlyle, Past & Pr., III. x. A noble devout-hearted chevalier.
3. Chevalier of industry (F. chevalier d’industrie) also Chevalier of fortune: one who lives by his wits, an adventurer, swindler, sharper.
1807–8. W. Irving, Salmag. (1824), 279. Doubtful characters; particularly pimps, bailiffs, lottery-brokers, chevaliers of industry, and great men.
1867. Miss Braddon, Trail Serpent, V. ix. A puppet in the hands of the chevalier of fortune.
4. transf. a. Her. A horseman armed cap-à-pie. b. The knight in chess.
1796. Stedman, Surinam, II. xxx. 383. The hippocampus, or sea-horse, which I could compare to nothing better than the chevalier of a chess-board.
c. A bird: the Greenshank or Whistling Snipe (Totanus glottis).
[1777. Pennant, Zool. (1812), II. 56.]
1885. Lady Brassey, The Trades, 118. The specimens … included … curlews, chevaliers, rails, water-hens.
5. attrib. and Comb. a. simple attrib. b. comb., as chevalier-crab: see quot.
1824. Galt, Rothelan, III. 281. The perfidy of Rupert, or the disappointment, certainly sank deep into the high chevalier bosom of the Palatine.
1868. Timbs, Eccentr. Anim. Creation, 294. The Chevalier crabs (so called from the celerity with which they traverse the ground). These are found in Africa, and along the borders of the Mediterranean.
