noun

1. in the Middle Ages,
   1. a military servant of a king or other feudal superior; tenant holding land on condition that he serve his superior as a mounted man-at-arms
   2. later, a man, usually one of high birth, who after serving as page and squire was formally raised to special military rank and pledged to chivalrous conduct
2. 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
3. an ancient Roman, Athenian, etc. whose status is regarded as equivalent to that of a knight
4. a member of any order or society that officially calls its members knights
5. Old Poet.
   1. a lady's devoted champion or attendant
   2. a devoted follower of some cause, person, etc.
6. Chess a piece usually shaped like a horse's head: it is moved one square, whether occupied or unoccupied, in any vertical or horizontal direction, and then one square farther diagonally

Etymology: ME kniht < OE cniht, boy, retainer, akin to Ger knecht, lad, servant < IE *gnegh-: for base see knead

transitive verb