Definition: Knight

Etymology

From Middle English knight, knyght, kniht, from Old English cniht (“boy; servant, knight”), from Proto-West Germanic *kneht.

Noun

knight (plural knights)

1. (historical) A young servant or follower; a trained military attendant in service of a lord.
2. (historical) A minor nobleman with an honorable military rank who had served as a page and squire.
3. An armored and mounted warrior of the Middle Ages.

   King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table

4. (modern) A person on whom a knighthood has been conferred by a monarch.
5. (literary) A brave, chivalrous, and honorable man devoted to a noble cause or love interest.
6. A chess piece, often in the shape of a horse's head, that is moved two squares in one direction and one at right angles to that direction in a single move, leaping over any intervening pieces.

Derived terms

• black knight
• knightage
• knight-errant
• knighthood
• knight in shining armor
• Knights of Columbus
• Knight Templar
• white knight

Verb

knight (third-person singular simple present knights, present participle knighting, simple past and past participle knighted)

1. (transitive) To confer knighthood upon.

   The king knighted the young squire.

2. (chess, transitive) To promote (a pawn) to a knight.

Credits

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