hotspur

1 9.9

A person who acts quickly without thinking

noun
/ˈhɑtspɜr/

Archaic

: impetuoso

"Twice, in the course of the winter, my face and my fluency with Rayzhia had caused young Rezhmian hotspurs to forget themselves in front of me and to utter remarks prejudicial to Velonya, and in particular toward the Velonyan administration of the territories.

Examples

The young athlete was known as a hotspur, always rushing into challenges without considering the consequences.
Temper like a hotspur, yet with plenty of knack to laugh at himself.

Fiction book (1993)
His hotspur nature often got him into trouble when he made impulsive decisions without thinking them through.
As a hotspur, she jumped at every opportunity, eager to take risks and dive into new adventures.

Synonyms

man of action

vshotspur

11 4.2

A man who decides quickly and gets things done

is more rash and impulsive rather than deliberate

Antonyms

cautious

210 2.9

Careful to avoid risk or mistakes

deliberateness

1 6.7

A careful, thoughtful, and slow way of acting or making decisions

How Impulsive

reckless

193 3.6

daredevil

26 6.1

hothead

Offensive

23 6.2

hotspur

Archaic

1 9.9

impulsive

78 4.4

rash

3 4.3

Surface Forms

hotspur singular

hotspurs plural

Morphology

hotspur = hot + spur (semi-transparent) = hot + spur

The word is clearly built from 'hot' + 'spur', but the meaning 'rash, impetuous person' is metaphorical rather than a fully literal sum of the parts.

Etymology

Hotspur comes from the simple picture of hot + spur: a 'spur' is the metal point on a rider's boot used 'to urge on' a horse, so a 'hot spur' suggests pushing for quick action. That's why a hotspur is a person who is rash or eager to act without thinking.