knight: Meaning and Definition of

knight

Pronunciation: (nīt), [key]
— n.
  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. 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.
    1. a short vertical timber having on its head a sheave through which running rigging is rove.
    2. any other fitting or erection bearing such a sheave.
—v.t.
  1. to dub or make (a man) a knight.

Knight

Pronunciation: (nīt), [key]
— n.
  1. 1897–1943, U.S. novelist, born in England.
  2. 1885–1972, U.S. economist.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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