hotspur1
/ˈhɒtspəː
/ /ˈhɒtspə/noun archaic
A rash, impetuous person.On the one hand, planters have been depicted as perennial hotspurs - hard drinking, fast-living men whose hair-trigger tempers demonstrated little foresight and generated even less systematic thought....
- Even Rotary flourishes primarily as a Cause, as another opportunity for the Southerner to puff and prance and be a noble hotspur.
- The King's lunacy had in the meanwhile become so manifest that Prince William had to be installed as prince regent; the royal power was now in the hands of a tractable adherent of the aristocratic clique and of the military hotspurs.
Origin
Late Middle English: literally 'a person whose spur is hot from rash or constant riding'.
Hotspur2
/ˈhɒtspəː/ /ˈhɒtspə/ The nickname of Sir Henry Percy (see Percy, Sir Henry).