Knight Definition

nīt

knighted, knights

noun

knights

A medieval tenant giving military service as a mounted man-at-arms to a feudal landholder.

American Heritage

In the Middle Ages,

Webster's New World

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

American Heritage

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.

Webster's New World

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

Webster's New World

Synonyms:

verb

knighted, knights

To raise (a person) to knighthood.

American Heritage

To make (a man) a knight.

Webster's New World

To confer knighthood upon.

The king knighted the young squire.

Wiktionary

Synonyms:

Synonyms:
dub

pronoun

An English status surname for someone who was a mounted soldier.

Wiktionary

Other Word Forms of Knight

Noun

Singular:

knight

Plural:

knights

Origin of Knight

From Middle English knight, kniht, from Old English cniht, cneht, cneoht (“boy, youth, servant, attendant, retainer, disciple, warrior, boyhood, junior member of a guild”), from Proto-Germanic *knehtaz (compare Dutch knecht (“attendant, servant”), German Knecht (“lad, slave”)), originally ‘billet (wood), block of wood’ (compare Dutch laarzeknecht (“boot-jack”), dialectal German Knüchtel (“bat, club”), from Proto-Indo-European *gnegʰ-, from *gen- ‘to ball up, pinch, compress’.

From Wiktionary
From Middle English knighten, kniȝten, from the noun. Cognate with Middle High German knehten.

From Wiktionary
Middle English knyghte from Old English cniht, youth or servant

From Wiktionary
Middle English from Old English cniht

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition