knight n
1. 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. a chessman in the shape of a horse's head; can move two squares horizontally and one vertically (or vice versa) [syn: horse] v : raise (someone) to knighthood; "The Beatles were knighted" [syn: dub]

Knight \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.]
1. A young servant or follower; a military attendant. [Obs.] 2. (a) 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. (b) 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. [Eng.] Hence: (c) A champion; a partisan; a lover. ``Give this ring to my true knight.'' Shak ``In all your quarrels will I be your knight.'' --Tennyson. Knights, by their oaths, should right poor ladies' harms. --Shak. Note: 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.
2. A piece used in the game of chess, usually bearing a horse's head.
3. A playing card bearing the figure of a knight; the knave or jack. [Obs.] 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.

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A knight is a member of the warrior class of the Middle Ages in Europe who followed a code of law called "chivalry". In other Indo-European languages, cognates of cavalier or rider are more prevalent (e.g., French chevalier and German Ritter), suggesting a connection to the knight's mode of transport. Since antiquity a position of honour and prestige has been held by mounted warriors such as the Greek hippeus and the Roman eques, and knighthood in the Middle Ages was inextricably linked with horsemanship.

The British legend of King Arthur was popularised throughout Europe in the Middle Ages by the Welsh cleric Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Historia Regum Britanniae ("History of the Kings of Britain"), written in the 1130s. Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur ("The Death of 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.

• Meaning: Noble, soldier
• Origin: English
• Gender: Male

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