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knights

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Knights, The

 
Use knights in a Sentence
–noun
a comedy (424 b.c.) by Aristophanes.
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knight

  [nahyt]
–noun
1. a mounted soldier serving under a feudal superior in the Middle Ages.
2. (in Europe in the Middle Ages) a man, usually of noble birth, who after an apprenticeship as page and squire was raised to honorable military rank and bound to chivalrous conduct.
3. any person of a rank similar to that of the medieval knight.
4. a man upon whom the nonhereditary dignity of knighthood is conferred by a sovereign because of personal merit or for services rendered to the country. In Great Britain he holds the rank next below that of a baronet, and the title Sir is prefixed to the Christian name, as in Sir John Smith.
5. a member of any order or association that designates its members as knights.
6. Chess. a piece shaped like a horse's head, moved one square vertically and then two squares horizontally or one square horizontally and two squares vertically.
7. Nautical.
a. a short vertical timber having on its head a sheave through which running rigging is rove.
b. any other fitting or erection bearing such a sheave.
–verb (used with object)
8. to dub or make (a man) a knight.
Origin:
bef. 900; ME; OE cniht boy, manservant; c. G, D knecht servant

Related forms:
knightless, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To knights
knight   (nīt)   
n.  

    1. Abbr. Knt. or Kt. A medieval tenant giving military service as a mounted man-at-arms to a feudal landholder.

    2. Abbr. Knt. or Kt. A medieval gentleman-soldier, usually high-born, raised by a sovereign to privileged military status after training as a page and squire.

    3. Abbr. K. A man holding a nonhereditary title conferred by a sovereign in recognition of personal merit or service to the country.

    4. A defender, champion, or zealous upholder of a cause or principle.

    5. The devoted champion of a lady.

  2. Abbr. Knt. or Kt. A man belonging to an order or brotherhood.

    1. A defender, champion, or zealous upholder of a cause or principle.

    2. The devoted champion of a lady.

  4. Abbr. Kt or N Games A chess piece, usually in the shape of a horse's head, that can be moved two squares along a rank and one along a file or two squares along a file and one along a rank. The knight is the only piece that can jump other pieces to land on an open square.

tr.v.   knight·ed, knight·ing, knights
To raise (a person) to knighthood.

[Middle English, from Old English cniht.]
knight'ly adj. & adv., knight'li·ness n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Cultural Dictionary

knight

A mounted warrior in Europe in the Middle Ages. (See chivalry.)

Note: Over the centuries, knighthood gradually lost its military functions, but it has survived as a social distinction in Europe, especially in England.
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Word Origin & History

knight 
O.E. cniht "boy, youth, servant," common W.Gmc. (cf. O.Fris. kniucht, Du. knecht, M.H.G. kneht "boy, youth, lad," Ger. Knecht "servant, bondsman, vassal"), of unknown origin. Meaning "military follower of a king or other superior" is from c.1100. Began to be used in a specific military sense in Hundred Years War, and gradually rose in importance through M.E. period until it became a rank in the nobility 16c. The verb meaning "to make a knight of (someone)" is from c.1300. Knighthood is O.E. cnihthad "the period between childhood and manhood;" sense of "rank or dignity of a knight" is from c.1300. The chess piece so called from c.1440. Knight in shining armor is from 1965. Knights of Columbus, society of Catholic men, founded 1882 in New Haven; Knights of Labor, trade union association, founded in Philadelphia, 1869; Knights of Pythias, secret order, founded in Washington, 1864.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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