See Also: Knight(medicine)
KNIGHT'S FEE, old Eng(law)
KNIGHT' S FEE, old Eng(law)
Knight Air(tourism)
knight(encyclopedia)
knight(dictionary)
knight (as used in expressions)(encyclopedia)
knight 1, noun(dictionary)
knight 2, verb(dictionary)
knight errant(dictionary)

knight (iou)



knight noun & verb.
[Old English cniht = Old Frisian knecht, kniucht, Old Saxon knecht, Old High German kneht (Dutch knecht, German Knecht), from West Germanic word of unkn. origin.]
A. noun.
A boy, a youth. Only in OE.
A boy or youth employed as an attendant or servant; a male servant or attendant of any age. OE-ME.
a. Hist. In the Middle Ages: a male military servant of a person of high rank; a feudal tenant holding land from a superior in exchange for military service; spec. a man, usu. a noble, raised to honourable military rank esp. by a monarch after service as a page and squire, and ranking below a baron; such a man serving or attending a woman of rank, esp. as her champion in a war or tournament. OE.
Knight of the Bath, Knight of the Garter, Knight of the Thistle, etc.
C. S. Lewis The blood went back to a Norman knight whose bones lie at Battle Abbey. T. H. White 'I shall have to have a lady-love..' added the future knight..'so that I can..do deeds in her honour.'
b. fig. A man devoted to the service of a woman, cause, etc. ME.
Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet O, find him! give this ring to my true knight. Tennyson In all your quarrels will I be your knight.
c. Hist. In full knight of the shire. A gentleman representing a shire or county in parliament, orig. either of two of the rank of knight. LME.
d. A man awarded a title (now non-hereditary) by a sovereign in recognition of personal merit or services rendered, ranking below a baronet, and entitled to be styled Sir. M16.
Orig. (in ancient history or mythology), a person holding a position or rank similar to that of the medieval knight. Later spec. (a) Roman History. [translating Latin eques horseman] a member of the class orig. forming the Roman army's cavalry, later of great wealth and political importance; (b) Greek History. [translating Greek hippeus horseman] a citizen of the second class at Athens in the constitution of Solon. ME.
b. [translating Latin miles.] An ordinary soldier. ME-M16.
Chess. Each of the four pieces (two per player) moving to the next but one square of the opposite colour, and usu. having the upper part shaped like a horse's head. ME.
Nautical. Either of two strong posts or bitts on a deck, having sheaves through which the jeers or halyards were passed. LME-M17.
Comb. & phrases: knight bachelor: see BACHELOR 1; knight banneret: see BANNERET noun1; knight commander: see COMMANDER 2c; knight-head Nautical either of two large timbers rising obliquely from the keel behind the stem of a vessel and supporting the bowsprit; Knight HOSPITALLER; knight in shining armour a chivalrous rescuer or helper, esp. of a woman; knight marshal: see MARSHAL noun1; Knight of Columbus N. Amer. a member of a society of Roman Catholic men founded at New Haven, Connecticut, in 1882; Knight of the Holy Sepulchre: see SEPULCHRE noun 1; knight of the post arch. [with allus. to a whipping-post] a man making his living by giving false evidence; a notorious perjurer; knight of the road (a) a highwayman; (b) a commercial traveller; (c) a tramp; (d) a lorry driver; a taxi driver; knight of the shire (a) see sense 3c above; (b) joc. a Conservative member for a country constituency who has been knighted for political services; knight of the spigot: see SPIGOT noun 1; knight-service (a) Hist. the tenure of land on condition of military service; (b) (good) service such as was rendered by a knight; Knight Templar: see TEMPLAR noun 1, 1b; Teutonic Knights, Teutonic Order (of Knights): see TEUTONIC adjective 2; white knight: see WHITE adjective.
b. verb trans. Confer a knighthood on. ME.
H. Bailey Her husband, Sir George Catlin, was knighted in 1970.
knightage noun (a) knights collectively; (b) a list and account of knights: M19.
knightess noun (rare) (a) a woman who fights like a knight; (b) a female member of a knightly order: M16.
knightlike adjective & adverb (a) adjective resembling or befitting a knight; (b) adverb = KNIGHTLY adverb: LME.
knightling noun (rare) a petty or insignificant knight M17.
knightship noun (now rare) (a) military service; (b) knightly character; valour; (c) the rank or position of a knight: ME.