knight

knight [nīt]

n.

[ME kniht < OE cniht, boy, retainer, akin to Ger knecht, lad, servant < IE * gnegh-: for base see KNEAD]

1. in the Middle Ages,

a) a military servant of a king or other feudal superior; tenant holding land on condition that he serve his superior as a mounted man-at-arms

b) later, a man, usually one of high birth, who after serving as page and squire was formally raised to special military rank and pledged to chivalrous conduct

2. in Great Britain, a man who for some achievement is given honorary nonhereditary rank next below a baronet, entitling him to use Sir before his given name

3. an ancient Roman, Athenian, etc. whose status is regarded as equivalent to that of a knight

4. [usually K-] a member of any order or society that officially calls its members knights

5. Old Poet.

a) a lady's devoted champion or attendant

b) a devoted follower of some cause, person, etc.

6. Chess a piece usually shaped like a horse's head: it is moved one square, whether occupied or unoccupied, in any vertical or horizontal direction, and then one square farther diagonally

vt.

to make (a man) a knight