knight

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
knight/nʌɪt/

▶noun

• 1 (in the Middle Ages) a man raised to honourable military rank after service as a page and squire.

  ■ (also knight of the shire) historical a gentleman representing a shire or county in Parliament.

  ■ literary a man devoted to a cause or the service of a woman.

• 2 (in the UK) a man awarded a non-hereditary title by the sovereign and entitled to use the honorific ‘Sir’ in front of his name.

• 3 a chess piece, typically shaped like a horse's head, that moves by jumping to the opposite corner of a rectangle two squares by three.

• 4 (in ancient Rome) a member of the class of equites.

• 5 (in ancient Greece) a citizen of the second class in Athens, called hippeus in Greek.

▶verb invest with the title of knight.

– phrases
knight in shining armour (or knight on a white charger) an idealized chivalrous man.
knight of the road informal a man who frequents the roads, e.g. a salesman, tramp, or (formerly) a highwayman.

– derivatives
knightliness noun,
knightly adjective .

– origin OE cniht ‘boy, youth, servant’, of W. Gmc origin.