knight

n. medieval warrior; man who holds an honorary nonhereditary rank; chess piece shaped like a horse's head

v. make a man a knight, give a man an honorary nonhereditary rank (in Britain and other countries)

For other uses, see Knight (disambiguation) or Knights (disambiguation). Knight is the English term for a social position originating in the Middle Ages. In the Commonwealth of Nations, knighthood is a non-heritable form of gentility, but is not nobility. In the High and Late Middle Ages, the principal duty of a knight was to fight as, and lead, heavy cavalry (see serjeanty); more recently, in the United Kingdom, knighthood has become a symbolic title of honour given to a more diverse class of people, from mountain climber Edmund Hillary to musician Paul McCartney. By extension, "knight" is also used as a translation of the names of other honourable estates connected with horsemanship, especially from classical antiquity.
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Noun
1. originally a person of noble birth trained to arms and chivalry; today in Great Britain a person honored by the sovereign for personal merit
(hypernym) male aristocrat
(hyponym) carpet knight
(derivation) dub
2. a chessman in the shape of a horse's head; can move two squares horizontally and one vertically (or vice versa)
(synonym) horse
(hypernym) chessman, chess piece
Verb
1. raise (someone) to knighthood; "The Beatles were knighted"
(synonym) dub
(hypernym) ennoble, gentle, entitle

(v. t.)
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 ---.
  

(n.)
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.
  

(n.)
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.
  

(n.)
A young servant or follower; a military attendant.
  

(n.)
A playing card bearing the figure of a knight; the knave or jack.
  

(n.)
A piece used in the game of chess, usually bearing a horse's head.
  

(n.)
A champion; a partisan; a lover.
  

The formal title of knight, the word deriving from the Anglo-Saxon Cniht, that described the office arising out of the
warrior of the 11th century into a class of the lower nobility charged with fighting for the liege lord and maintaining lordship over
the demense, managing it and defending the people in exchange for scutage from the property that supported him. Originally a
purely martial description from the Latin miles , the definition of what it meant to be a knight changed as the influences of an
increasingly formal court and activist church added expectations to the behavior of real knights. Throughout the medieval
period, the role of the knight was changing, stretched between the conflicting demands of lady, court, church and battlefield.
But the ideal of chivalry , the virtues to which a knight was to aspire, remain a powerful evocation of the best of Western culture,
and this power remains today, giving strength to the modern tournament societies and the knights who today strive to hone their
martial skills and practice ethical conduct. See also THE BOOK OF THE TOURNAMENT or Chronique: The Journal ofChivalry #5.

The rank in the Society for Creative Anachronism where those recognized are to have distinguished themselves in martial combat and possess the qualities expected of a nobleman . Without doubt the rank of knighthood is an honor of the highest level for those who attain it, usually won after an average of three to ten years of martial experience and much growth in the character of the individual. It is often recognized not as an ending, but as the start of a lifelong journey for excellence, the recognition by the other knights in a kingdom that the individual has a good base from which to learn, grow, and teach. In most kingdoms, the knights meet and recommend candidates to the king , who listens to their counsel and makes the final decision as to who has attained the necessary support and renown to be accorded the accolade. It is then the king who performs the knighting, with great ceremony , either at an SCA court or upon the battlefield. It ranks equally with the Order of the Laurel and the Order of the Pelican , but below a Baron , Viscount , or other higher nobility.