Dictionary
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. 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. Naut.
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.
—
v.t.
to dub or make (a man) a knight.
Knight
Pronunciation: (nīt), [key]—
n.
1. Eric, 1897–1943, U.S. novelist, born in England.
2. Frank Hy•ne•man Pronunciation: (hī'nu-mun), [key] 1885–1972, U.S. economist.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
