swashbuckler

[swosh-buhk-ler, swawsh-]

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noun

a swaggering swordsman, soldier, or adventurer; daredevil.

Sometimes swash·er.

Origin of swashbuckler

First recorded in 1550–60; swash + buckler

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for swashbuckler

adventurer, buccaneer, daredevil, ruffian, swordsman, soldier

Examples from the Web for swashbuckler

Historical Examples of swashbuckler

They kept a swashbuckler court in their little Manx kingdom.
The Little Manx Nation - 1891
Hall Caine
And what was that swashbuckler Feraud doing there, he wondered.
A Set of Six
Joseph Conrad
He has in him more of the swashbuckler and the bully than of the courtier and the cavalier.
Bussy D'Ambois and The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois
George Chapman
I pick my company, and I refuse to drink with a swashbuckler and a roysterer.
The Cryptogram
William Murray Graydon
He was a swashbuckler whom Callot would have loved to paint.
The Duke's Motto
Justin Huntly McCarthy

British Dictionary definitions for swashbuckler

swashbuckler

noun

a swaggering or flamboyant adventurer

a film, book, play, etc, depicting excitement and adventure, esp in a historical setting

Word Origin for swashbuckler

C16: from swash (in the archaic sense: to make the noise of a sword striking a shield) + buckler

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for swashbuckler

1550s, "blustering, swaggering fighting man" (earlier simply swash, 1540s), from swash "fall of a blow" (see swash) + buckler "shield." The original sense seems to have been "one who makes menacing noises by striking his or an opponent's shield."