Knave definition

nāv
knaves
See word origin
Frequency:
An unprincipled, crafty fellow.
noun
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The definition of a knave is a scoundrel or a dishonest person.

A man who steals and lies is an example of a knave.

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A man of humble birth.
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A serving boy or male servant.
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A man of humble birth or status.
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(archaic) A boy; especially, a boy servant.
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A tricky, deceitful fellow; a dishonest person; a rogue; a villain.
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(card games) A playing card marked with the figure of a servant or soldier; a jack.
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A dishonest, deceitful person; tricky rascal; rogue.
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(archaic) Any male servant; a menial.
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A male servant.
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Other Word Forms

Noun

Singular:
knave
Plural:
knaves

Origin of knave

  • Middle English from Old English cnafa boy, male servant

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

  • From Middle English knave, from Old English cnafa (“child, boy, youth; servant”), from Proto-Germanic *knabô (“boy, youth”), from Proto-Indo-European *gnebʰ- (“to press, tighten”), from Proto-Indo-European *gen- (“to pinch, squeeze, bend, press together, ball”). Cognate with German Knabe (“lad”) and Dutch knaap (“lad”). Related also to knape.

    From Wiktionary

Knave Sentence Examples

  • The person who drew up the agreement is either a great knave or a great fool.

  • Knox does not seem to have known beforehand of Rizzio's "slaughter," which had been intended to be a semi-judicial act; but soon after it he records that "that vile knave Davie was justly punished, for abusing of the commonwealth, and for other villainy which we list not to express."

  • From the Greek sophists they borrowed ingenious ways of playing off one duty against another, or duty in general against self-interest - leaving the doubter in the alternative of neglecting the one and being a knave, or neglecting the other and being a fool.

  • It had a knave and chancel and the knave is all that remains.

  • Swift, who was intimate with him, speaks of him as "an arrant knave"; but the dean may have been disappointed at being unmentioned in Rivers's will, for he made a fierce comment on the earl's bequests to his mistresses and his neglect of his friends.

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Words near knave in the Dictionary