swashbuckling
adjective

- if you describe someone as swashbuckling, you mean that they are connected with adventure and excitement

- behaving in a brave and exciting way, especially like a fighter in the past

- flamboyantly reckless and boastful behavior

Collins Dictionary / Cambridge Dictionary / Vocabulary dot com

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ORIGIN

The word "swashbuckler" first appeared around the middle of the 16th century and referred to a swaggering bully. It stemmed from swash, meaning to make a noise by striking something, and buckler, which is a shield.

A swashbuckler originally referred to a swordsman of average skill who compensated by making a lot of noise, running around the streets banging his shield, challenging strangers to duels and generally acting like a fool.

Centuries later, the sword-wielding ruffian was transformed into a romantic and daring hero in adventure novels and Hollywood films. Actors like Errol Flynn and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. dashed around lavish film sets duelling like real gentlemen with swords while frightened maidens watched their heroes “fight to the death”.

The swashbuckler is still portrayed in modern films like the Johnny Depp figure Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean.

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CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD

For his classic screen adaptation of Robin Hood (1922), Douglas Fairbanks built an incredible ten-acre set (by far the largest in Hollywood) with an enormous castle with a giant chain-hoisted drawbridge.

One scene in the film required that the SWASHBUCKLING hero climb up one of the chains in order to get inside. It was a dangerous feat but Fairbanks, famed for his acrobatic exploits, only reluctantly agreed to let a stunt double do it. The double’s performance proved unsatisfactory, however, and the director decided to shoot the scene again with another double on the following day.

At the appointed time, the new double arrived and shot up the chain without hesitation. The director was delighted. Not only did the stuntman perform with brilliance, he even resembled Fairbanks himself. When he reached the top of the chain, he paused, threw out his arm in a sweeping gesture, and began to grin. Everyone suddenly realized what had happened: the double who looked so much like Fairbanks… was Fairbanks.

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SYNONYMS
for willing, or inclined, to take chances or risks:

adventurous, as game as Ned Kelly, audacious, ballsy, brash, brassy, brave, brazen, cavalier, daredevil, daring, death-or-glory, devil-may-care, frightless, go for broke, have-a-go, having nerves of steel, intrepid, madcap, Ramboesque, risk-taking, roisterous, swaggering, SWASHBUCKLING, undaunted, unfearing, venturous

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SMUGGLE OWAD into a conversation today, say something like

“SWASHBUCKLING behaviour by sales staff is not much appreciated by those in the engineering department.”

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