knight

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A medieval tenant giving military service as a mounted man-at-arms to a feudal landholder.
2. n. A medieval gentleman-soldier, usually high-born, raised by a sovereign to privileged military status after training as a page and squire.
3. n. A man holding a nonhereditary title conferred by a sovereign in recognition of personal merit or service to the country.
4. n. A man belonging to an order or brotherhood.
5. n. A defender, champion, or zealous upholder of a cause or principle.
6. n. The devoted champion of a lady.
7. n. Games A chess piece, usually in the shape of a horse's head, that can be moved two squares along a rank and one along a file or two squares along a file and one along a rank. The knight is the only piece that can jump other pieces to land on an open square.
8. v. To raise (a person) to knighthood.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A boy; a youth; a young man.
2. n. An attendant or servant; especially, a military attendant; a man-at-arms; a soldier.
3. n. Specifically In Europe during the middle ages, a person of noble birth trained to arms and chivalry, first as page and afterward as squire to the sovereign, or to some earl, baron, or other superior lord, to whom he attached himself, and whom he was bound to follow to war on horseback. Knights were of two grades: knights bachelors (or simple knights), received into the order with much ceremony and solemnity, in which the church had a large share; and knights bannerets, who were generally created on the field by their superior on account of some valorous action, and were entitled to display a square banner, and to hold higher commands, while the former could use only the pennon. In England, under the feudal system, a prerequisite was the ownership of a certain amount of land (called a knight's fee), held of the king or of an earl or baron on a tenure which bound the holder to definite military service and other obligations. Although this form of tenure continued until the time of Charles II., the military service was early commuted for a money payment, and the holder of a knight's fee was no longer necessarily a knight. During the age of chivalry following the crusades, knights were bound by the highest obligations to chivalrous conduct, and were supposed to espouse the cause of the unfortunate, especially of women. See order of knighthood, under knighthood.
4. n. In Great Britain in modern times, a man upon whom a certain honorary dignity has been conferred by a sovereign as a reward of personal merit of some kind, without reference to birth or possessions, and in no way involving military service, which disappeared as a feature of knighthood with the other institutions of chivalry. In the British empire knighthood confers no privilege other than the social one of precedence next after baronets. Knights have the right to the title Sir prefixed to the Christian name, as Sir William Wallace; but neither the dignity nor the title is transmissible to heirs, as in the case of baronets (who as such are not knights, although they also have the title Sir). The wife of a knight has the legal designation of Dame, for which Lady is customarily substituted. Knights may still, as in medieval times, hold their rank either simply as individuals or as members of an order. (See order of knighthood, under knighthood.) Those of the latter class are now created only by royal letters patent; those of the former (knights bachelors) may be so created, but are often personally dubbed by the sovereign with the accolade. This ceremony of the accolade was formerly essential to the creation of all knights, whether by sovereign or feudal superior, and was commonly attended by elaborate observances.
5. n. A champion; a warrior; especially, a champion devoted to the service of another; a defender.
6. n. One of the pieces in the game of chess, having usually the figure of a horse's head. Its move is a peculiar one —from the square it occupies to the opposite corner of any rectangle of two squares by three; and in so moving its course is not obstructed by any intervening or surrounding pieces. The number of squares it commands varies from eight when at least two squares separate it from any side of the board to two when it stands in a corner.
7. n. In card-playing, the knave or jack. Abbreviated knt., or in combination K. (as K. G., Knight of the Garter; K. C. B., Knight Commander of the Bath).
8. n. A branch of the fraternity of Freemasons in the United states, with an organization based upon that of the medieval order of the same name.
9. To dub or create a knight; confer the honor of knighthood upon. The ceremony is regularly performed by touching the person on whom the dignity is conferred with a sword as he kneels. See accolade, 1.

Wiktionary

1. v. transitive To confer knighthood upon.
2. v. chess, transitive To promote (a pawn) to a knight.
3. n. A warrior, especially of the Middle Ages.
4. n. Nowadays, a person on whom a knighthood has been conferred by a monarch.
5. n. chess A chess piece, often in the shape of a horse's head, that is moved two squares in one direction and one at right angles to that direction in a single move, leaping over any intervening pieces.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. obsolete A young servant or follower; a military attendant.
2. n. engraving, engraving In feudal times, a man-at-arms serving on horseback and admitted to a certain military rank with special ceremonies, including an oath to protect the distressed, maintain the right, and live a stainless life.
3. n. engraving One on whom knighthood, a dignity next below that of baronet, is conferred by the sovereign, entitling him to be addressed as Sir; as, Sir John.
4. n. A champion; a partisan; a lover.
5. n. A piece used in the game of chess, usually bearing a horse's head.
6. n. obsolete A playing card bearing the figure of a knight; the knave or jack.
7. v. To dub or create (one) a knight; -- done in England by the sovereign only, who taps the kneeling candidate with a sword, saying: Rise, Sir ---.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a chessman shaped to resemble the head of a horse; can move two squares horizontally and one vertically (or vice versa)
2. n. originally a person of noble birth trained to arms and chivalry; today in Great Britain a person honored by the sovereign for personal merit
3. v. raise (someone) to knighthood