Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A flamboyant swordsman or adventurer.
- noun A sword-wielding ruffian or bully.
- noun A dramatic or literary work dealing with a swashbuckler.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A swaggering blade; a bravo; a bully or braggadocio.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A bully or braggadocio; a swaggering, boastful fellow; a swaggerer.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
swordsman orfencer , that engages inshowy orextravagant sword play . - noun A
daring adventurer . - noun A kind of period
adventure story with flashy action and lighthearted tone.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a reckless impetuous irresponsible person
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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Hence, the 1560 word swashbuckler, “a swaggering ruffian,” defined now as the 2001 woman with the tough high-fashion attitude.
The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time William Safire 2004
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Hence, the 1560 word swashbuckler, “a swaggering ruffian,” defined now as the 2001 woman with the tough high-fashion attitude.
The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time William Safire 2004
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I think the pleasure I derive from Conrad is largely due to the fact that while he liberates us with a magnificent jerk from the tiresome monotonous sedentary life of ordinary civilised people, he does so without assuming that banal and bullying air of the adventurous swashbuckler, which is so exhausting; without letting his intellectual interests be swamped by these physiological violences and by these wanderings into savage regions.
Suspended Judgments Essays on Books and Sensations John Cowper Powys 1917
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He has the handsome face of an iconic and populist swashbuckler, which is Guevara the shell, but he also has the ability to carry himself as an aloof theorist of communist revolution, which is Guevara the seed.
Daily Tar Heel RSS 2009
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He has the handsome face of an iconic and populist swashbuckler, which is Guevara the shell, but he also has the ability to carry himself as an aloof theorist of communist revolution, which is Guevara the seed.
Daily Tar Heel RSS 2009
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He was a giant in stature, with a voice like a trumpet, and thews of steel; a mighty man in battle, a daring leader, yet cautious and sagacious withal; a man feared and beloved by those whom he led in warfare; a gay roysterer at other times, with as many strange oaths upon his lips as there are saints in the calendar; what the English call a swashbuckler and daredevil; a man whom one would little look to be led or guided by a woman, for he was impatient of counsel, and headstrong alike in thought and action.
A Heroine of France Everett-Green, Evelyn 1906
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He was a giant in stature, with a voice like a trumpet, and thews of steel; a mighty man in battle, a daring leader, yet cautious and sagacious withal; a man feared and beloved by those whom he led in warfare; a gay roysterer at other times, with as many strange oaths upon his lips as there are saints in the calendar; what the English call a swashbuckler and daredevil; a man whom one would little look to be led or guided by a woman, for he was impatient of counsel, and headstrong alike in thought and action.
A Heroine of France Evelyn Everett-Green 1894
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“Mole who blew whistle on MP expenses is a 'swashbuckler' with a £7million trail of debt”
Archive 2009-05-01 Thatsnews 2009
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“Mole who blew whistle on MP expenses is a 'swashbuckler' with a £7million trail of debt”
Sunday morning update 24th May Thatsnews 2009
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This was a fun panel as we explored the "swashbuckler" in movie and literature, moving on to the modern day SF icons--Dominic Flandry and Han Solo being two notable examples.
Darlene's Digest Darlene 2008
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