office
Kavaler (Order-Holder)
knight
also: кавалер
The formal Russian title for a holder of an imperial order or decoration (not a chivalric knight); the narrator collapses it into a literal, disagreeable woman named Anna whom he "wears around his neck."
Reading notes
- My Ranks and Titles §8 knight
Kavaler, the formal title for a holder of an imperial order or decoration (not a knight in the chivalric sense); the joke collapses into the literal 'Anna round the neck' -- both the neck-worn Order of St. Anna and, apparently, an actual disagreeable woman named Anna.