Definitions for Knight
naɪtknight

Princeton's WordNet(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. knightnoun

   originally a person of noble birth trained to arms and chivalry; today in Great Britain a person honored by the sovereign for personal merit

2. knight, horseverb

   a chessman shaped to resemble the head of a horse; can move two squares horizontally and one vertically (or vice versa)

3. knight, dubverb

   raise (someone) to knighthood

   "The Beatles were knighted"

Wiktionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Knightnoun

   An English status surname for someone who was a mounted soldier.

2. Etymology: knyghte from cniht, youth or servant

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. KNIGHTnoun

   Etymology: cniht, Sax. knecht, Germ. a servant, or pupil.

   1. A man advanced to a certain degree of military rank. It was anciently the custom to knight every man of rank or fortune, that he might be qualified to give challenges, to fight in the lists, and to perform feats of arms. In England knighthood confers the title of sir: as, sir Thomas , sir Richard . When the name was not known, it was usual to say sir knight.

   That same knight ’s own sword this is of yore,
   Which Merlin made. Edmund Spenser.

   Sir knight, if knight thou be,
   Abandon this forestalled place. Edmund Spenser.

   When every case in law is right,
   No squire in debt, and no poor knight. William Shakespeare, King Lear.

   Pardon, goddess of the night,
   Those that slew thy virgin knight;
   For the which, with songs of woe,
   Round about her tomb they go. William Shakespeare.

   This knight; but yet why should I call him knight,
   To give impiety to this rev’rent stile. Samuel Daniel, Civil War.

   No squire with knight did better fit
   In parts, in manners, and in wit. Hudibras.

   2. Among us the order of gentleman next to the nobility, except the baronets.

   The knight intends to make his appearance. Addison.

   3. A champion.

   He suddenly unties the poke,
   Which out of it sent such a smoke,
   As ready was them all to choke,
   So grievous was the pother;
   So that the knights each other lost,
   And stood as still as any post. Michael Drayton.

   Did I for this my country bring
   To help their knight against their king,
   And raise the first sedition? John Denham.

2. To Knightverb

   To create one a knight, which is done by the king, who gives the person kneeling a blow with a sword, and bids him rise up sir.

   Etymology: from the noun.

   Favours came thick upon him: the next St George’s day he was knighted. Henry Wotton.

   The lord protector knighted the king; and immediately the king stood up, took the sword from the lord protector, and dubbed the lord mayor of London knight. John Hayward.

   The hero William, and the martyr Charles,
   One knighted Blackmore, and one pension’d Quarles. Alexander Pope.

Webster Dictionary(3.50 / 2 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Knightnoun

   a young servant or follower; a military attendant

2. Knightnoun

   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

3. Knightnoun

   one on whom knighthood, a dignity next below that of baronet, is conferred by the sovereign, entitling him to be addressed as Sir; as, Sir John

4. Knightnoun

   a champion; a partisan; a lover

5. Knightnoun

   a piece used in the game of chess, usually bearing a horse's head

6. Knightnoun

   a playing card bearing the figure of a knight; the knave or jack

7. Knightverb

   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 ---

8. Etymology: [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.]

Freebase(5.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. Knight

   A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a monarch or other political leader for service to the monarch or country, especially in a military capacity. Historically, in Europe, knighthood has been conferred upon mounted warriors. During the High Middle Ages, knighthood was considered a class of lower nobility. By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior. Since the Early Modern period, the title of knight is purely honorific, usually bestowed by a monarch, as in the British honours system, often for non-military service to the country. Historically, the ideals of chivalry were popularized in medieval literature, especially the Matter of Britain and Matter of France, the former based on Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, written in the 1130s. Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, written in 1485, was important in defining the ideal of chivalry which is essential to the modern concept of the knight as an elite warrior sworn to uphold the values of faith, loyalty, courage, and honour. During the Renaissance, the genre of chivalric romance became popular in literature, growing ever more idealistic and eventually giving rise to a new form of realism in literature popularised by Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote. This novel explored the ideals of knighthood and their incongruity with the reality of Cervantes' world. In the late medieval period, new methods of warfare began to render classical knights in armour obsolete, but the titles remained in many nations.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(5.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. Knight

   nīt, n. one of gentle birth and bred to arms, admitted in feudal times to a certain honourable military rank: (Shak.) an attendant: a champion: the rank, with the title 'Sir,' next below baronets: a piece used in the game of chess.—v.t. to create a knight.—ns. Knight′age, the collective body of knights; Knight′-bach′elor, one who has been knighted merely, not made a member of any titular order; Knight′-bann′eret, a knight who carried a banner, and who was superior in rank to the knight-bachelor; Knight′-err′ant, a knight who travelled in search of adventures; Knight′-err′antry; Knight′hood, the character or privilege of a knight: the order or fraternity of knights; Knight′hood-err′ant (Tenn.), the body of knights-errant.—adj. Knight′less (Spens.), unbecoming a knight.—n. Knight′liness, the bearing or duties of a knight.—adj. and adv. Knight′ly.—ns. Knight′-mar′shal, formerly an officer of the royal household; Knight′-serv′ice, tenure by a knight on condition of military service.—Knight of industry, a footpad, thief, or sharper; Knight of the carpet, a civil knight, as opposed to a military, so called because created kneeling on a carpet, not the field; Knight of the pestle, an apothecary; Knight of the post, one familiar with the whipping-post or pillory; Knight of the road, a highwayman; Knight of the shire, a member of parliament for a county; Knight's fee, the amount of land with which a knight was invested on his creation; Knights of Labour, in the United States, a national labour organisation; Knights of Malta (see Hospitaller); Knights of St Crispin, shoemakers; Knights of the rainbow, flunkeys from their liveries; Knights of the shears, tailors; Knights of the spigot, tapsters, publicans; Knights of the stick, compositors; Knights of the whip, coachmen; Knights Templars (see Templar). [A.S. cniht Ger. and Dut. knecht, Dan. knegt.]

Military Dictionary and Gazetteer(4.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. knight

   From the Saxon cniht, a servant or attendant, was originally a man-at-arms bound to the performance of certain duties, among others to attend his sovereign or feudal superior on horseback in time of war. The institution of knighthood, as conferred by investiture, and with certain oaths and ceremonies, arose gradually throughout Europe as an adjunct of the feudal system. The character of the knight was at once military and religious; the defense of the Holy Sepulchre and the protection of pilgrims being the objects to which, in early times of the institution, he especially devoted himself The system of knight-service introduced into England by William the Conqueror empowered the king, or even a superior lord who was a subject, to compel every holder of a certain extent of land, called a knight’s fee, to become a member of the knightly order; his investiture being accounted proof that he possessed the requisite knightly arms, and was sufficiently trained in their use. After the long war between France and England, it became the practice for the sovereign to receive money compensations from subjects who were unwilling to receive knighthood, a system out of which grew a series of grievances, leading eventually to the total abolition of knight-service in the reign of Charles II. Since the abolition of knight-service, knighthood has been conferred, without any regard to property, as a mark of the sovereign’s esteem, or a reward for services of any kind, civil or military. The ceremonies practiced in conferring knighthood have varied at different periods. In general, some religious ceremonies were performed, the sword and spurs were bound on the candidate; after which a blow was dealt him on the cheek or shoulder, as the last affront which he was to receive unrequited. He then took an oath to protect the distressed, maintain right against might, and never by word or deed to stain his character as a knight and a Christian. A knight might be degraded for the infringement of any part of his oath, in which case his spurs were chopped off with a hatchet, his sword was broken, his escutcheon reversed, and some religious observances were added, during which each piece of armor was taken off in succession, and cast from the recreant knight. For the different orders of knighthood, see separate articles, under their appropriate headings, in this work.

Suggested Resources(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. knight

   Song lyrics by knight -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by knight on the Lyrics.com website.

Etymology and Origins(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Knight

   From the Saxon knicht, a servant, which is the origin also of the modern German knecht, a man-servant.

Matched Categories

1. • Male Aristocrat

British National Corpus

1. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'Knight' in Nouns Frequency: #2651

How to pronounce Knight?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say Knight in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of Knight in Chaldean Numerology is: 2

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of Knight in Pythagorean Numerology is: 6

Examples of Knight in a Sentence

1. Mary Kay Andrews:

   I want characters I can live for in a setting that makes me feel like I'm there, my characters are turned upside down and trying to reinvent themselves but don't need a white knight. They can save themselves in a crisis.

2. Stephen Langton:

   greatest knight that ever lived

3. Don Fischer:

   I hesitate to say anything about that right nowbecause Coach Knight is not well, hes going through some major issues and it hurts me to even talk about it just because a man with that kind of a mind, who was so tremendous at coaching the game of basketball, and you know, at the age that we get to at this point in our lives, you want to keep thinking that that brain is never going to go away, and it appears thats a real problem for him right now and in the sense of what hes dealing with.

4. The Batman:

   ' The Batman' presents a muscular vision of the Dark Knight that hardcore fans have long desired.

5. Andy Boucher:

   Tourney, the true form of jousting, is open combat between large groups of people in fields — basically, a mock battle, they just laid into each other with blunted weapons, which is another reason we think he might be a knight, because none of the wounds to him are caused by sharp weapons. They're all caused by blunt-force trauma.

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