knight
noun
[ nʌɪt ]
• (in the Middle Ages) a man who served his sovereign or lord as a mounted soldier in armour.
Similar:
chevalier,
cavalier,
cavalryman,
horseman,
equestrian,
gallant,
champion,
paladin,
banneret,
knight errant,
lord,
noble,
nobleman,
• (in the UK) a man awarded a non-hereditary title by the sovereign in recognition of merit or service and entitled to use the honorific ‘Sir’ in front of his name.
• a chess piece, typically with its top shaped like a horse's head, that moves by jumping to the opposite corner of a rectangle two squares by three. Each player starts the game with two knights.
knight
verb
• invest (someone) with the title of knight.
• "he was knighted for his services to industry"
Origin:
Old English cniht ‘boy, youth, servant’, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch knecht and German Knecht . knight (sense 2 of the noun) dates from the mid 16th century; the uses relating to Greek and Roman history derive from comparison with medieval knights.
