chivalrous
adjUK /ˈʃɪv.əl.ɹəs/
Etymology From Middle English chivalerous, from Old French chevalerous; see chivalry.
1
Of a man Honourable, especially to women; gallant.
- Among boys there are laws of honour and chivalrous codes, not written, or formally taught, but intuitively understood by all, and invariably acted upon by the loyal and the true.1859, George Meredith, chapter 5, in The Ordeal of Richard Feverel. A History of Father and Son. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC:
- “I would then never have known what minute, or by whom, I was to be attacked next. But the brutes are more chivalrous than man—they do not stoop to cowardly intrigue.”1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 96:
1 more example
- It amazed me that I could have allowed myself to be let in for a binge of this description simply because a woman wished it. Too bally chivalrous for our own good, we Woosters, and always have been.1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “VII AND XXI”, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:
2
Involving chivalry.
- Antonyms
- unchivalrous
- Derived terms
- chivalrously, chivalrousness, nonchivalrous, semichivalrous, superchivalrous