knight

• POS: Noun, Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

knight, n. [OE. knight, cniht, knight, soldier, AS. cniht, cneoht, a boy, youth, attendant, military follower; akin to D. & G. knecht servant; perh. akin to E. kin.].

•  A young servant or follower; a military attendant.  [1913 Webster]
•  In feudal times, a man-at-arms serving on horseback and admitted to a certain military rank with special ceremonies, including an oath to protect the distressed, maintain the right, and live a stainless life.  Tennyson.  [1913 Webster]

  " Formerly, when a knight's name was not known, it was customary to address him as Sir Knight. The rank of a knight is not hereditary."  [1913 Webster]

  "Knights, by their oaths, should right poor ladies' harms."  [1913 Webster]
•  A piece used in the game of chess, usually bearing a horse's head.  [1913 Webster]
•  A playing card bearing the figure of a knight; the knave or jack.  [1913 Webster]

Carpet knight. See under Carpet. -- Knight of industry. See Chevalier d'industrie, under Chevalier. -- Knight of Malta, Knight of Rhodes, Knight of St. John of Jerusalem. See Hospitaler. -- Knight of the post, one who gained his living by giving false evidence on trials, or false bail; hence, a sharper in general. Nares. “A knight of the post, . . . quoth he, for so I am termed; a fellow that will swear you anything for twelve pence.” Nash. -- Knight of the shire, in England, one of the representatives of a county in Parliament, in distinction from the representatives of cities and boroughs. -- Knights commanders, Knights grand cross, different classes of the Order of the Bath. See under Bath, and Companion. Knights of labor, a secret organization whose professed purpose is to secure and maintain the rights of workingmen as respects their relations to their employers. [U. S.] -- Knights of Pythias, a secret order, founded in Washington, D. C., in 1864, for social and charitable purposes. -- Knights of the Round Table, knights belonging to an order which, according to the legendary accounts, was instituted by the mythical King Arthur. They derived their common title from the table around which they sat on certain solemn days. Brande & C.

knight, v. t. 

 To dub or create (one) a knight; -- done in England by the sovereign only, who taps the kneeling candidate with a sword, saying: Rise, Sir ---.  [1913 Webster]
"A soldier, by the honor-giving hand
Of Cknighted in the field."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

knight, n. & v.
--n.
1 a man awarded a non-hereditary title (Sir) by a sovereign in recognition of merit or service.
2 hist. a a man, usu. noble, raised esp. by a sovereign to honourable military rank after service as a page and squire. b a military follower or attendant, esp. of a lady as her champion in a war or tournament.
3 a man devoted to the service of a woman, cause, etc.
4 Chess a piece usu. shaped like a horse's head.
5 a Rom.Hist. a member of the class of equites, orig. the cavalry of the Roman army. b Gk Hist. a citizen of the second class in Athens.
6 (in full knight of the shire) hist. a gentleman representing a shire or county in parliament.
--v.tr. confer a knighthood on.

Idiom

knight bachelor (pl. knights bachelor) a knight not belonging to a special order. knight commander see COMMANDER. knight errant
1 a medieval knight wandering in search of chivalrous adventures.
2 a man of a chivalrous or quixotic nature. knight-errantry the practice or conduct of a knight errant. Knight Hospitaller (pl. Knights Hospitaller) a member of an order of monks with a military history, founded at Jerusalem c.1050. knight marshal hist. an officer of the royal household with judicial functions.
knight of the road colloq.
1 a highwayman.
2 a commercial traveller.
3 a tramp.
4 a lorry driver or taxi driver. knight-service hist. the tenure of land by military service. Knight Templar (pl. Knights Templar) a member of a religious and military order for the protection of pilgrims to the Holy Land, suppressed in 1312.

Derivative

knighthood n. knightlike adj. knightly adj. & adv. poet. knightliness n.

Etymology

OE cniht boy, youth, hero f. WG

DEVIL DICTIONARY

knight

n.

Once a warrior gentle of birth,
Then a person of civic worth,
Now a fellow to move our mirth.
Warrior, person, and fellow -- no more:
We must knight our dogs to get any lower.
Brave Knights Kennelers then shall be,
Noble Knights of the Golden Flea,
Knights of the Order of St. Steboy,
Knights of St. Gorge and Sir Knights Jawy.
God speed the day when this knighting fad
Shall go to the dogs and the dogs go mad.

THESAURUS

knight

Bayard, Don Quixote, Gawain, Lancelot, Ritter, Sidney, Sir Galahad, advance, aggrandize, bachelor, banneret, baronet, battler, belligerent, belted knight, bickerer, bishop, blade, bravo, brawler, broncobuster, buckaroo, bully, bullyboy, caballero, castle, cavalier, cavalryman, chessman, chevalier, circus rider, combatant, companion, competitor, contender, contestant, cowboy, cowgirl, cowpuncher, disputant, duelist, elevate, enforcer, ennoble, equestrian, equestrienne, exalt, fencer, feuder, fighter, fighting cock, foilsman, gallant, gamecock, gaucho, gladiator, goon, gorilla, graduate, hatchet man, hood, hoodlum, hooligan, horse soldier, horseback rider, horsebacker, horseman, horsewoman, jockey, jouster, kick upstairs, king, knight bachelor, knight banneret, knight baronet, knight-errant, man, militant, mounted policeman, pass, pawn, piece, plug-ugly, postboy, postilion, prefer, promote, puncher, quarreler, queen, raise, rider, rioter, rival, rook, rough, roughrider, rowdy, ruffian, sabreur, scrapper, scuffler, squabbler, steeplechaser, strong arm, strong-arm man, strong-armer, struggler, swashbuckler, sword, swordplayer, swordsman, thug, tilter, tough, trick rider, tussler, up, upgrade, vaquero, wrangler

ROGET THESAURUS

knight

Nobility

N nobility, rank, condition, distinction, optimacy, blood, pur sang, birth, high descent, order, quality, gentility, blue blood of Castile, ancien regime, high life, haute monde, upper classes, upper ten thousand, the four hundred, elite, aristocracy, great folks, fashionable world, peer, peerage, house of lords, house of peers, lords, lords temporal and spiritual, noblesse, noble, nobleman, lord, lordling, grandee, magnifico, hidalgo, daimio, daimyo, samurai, shizoku, don, donship, aristocrat, swell, three- tailed bashaw, gentleman, squire, squireen, patrician, laureate, gentry, gentlefolk, squirarchy, better sort magnates, primates, optimates, pantisocracy, king, atheling, prince, duke, marquis, marquisate, earl, viscount, baron, thane, banneret, baronet, baronetcy, knight, knighthood, count, armiger, laird, signior, seignior, esquire, boyar, margrave, vavasour, emir, ameer, scherif, sharif, effendi, wali, sahib, chevalier, maharaja, nawab, palsgrave, pasha, rajah, waldgrave, princess, begum, duchess, marchioness, countess, lady, dame, memsahib, Do$a, maharani, rani, personage of distinction, man of distinction, personage of rank, man of rank, personage of mark, man of mark, notables, notabilities, celebrity, bigwig, magnate, great man, star, superstar, big bug, big gun, great gun, gilded rooster, magni nominis umbra, every inch a king, noble, exalted, of rank, princely, titled, patrician, aristocratic, high-, well-born, of gentle blood, genteel, comme il faut, gentlemanlike, courtly, highly respectable, in high quarters, Adel sitzt im Gemuthe nicht im Gebluete, adelig und edel sind zweierlei, noblesse oblige.