knight

Etymology 1

From Middle English knight, knyght, kniht, from Old English cniht (“boy; servant, knight”), from Proto-West Germanic *kneht.

noun

1. (historical) A young servant or follower; a trained military attendant in service of a lord.
2. (historical) A minor nobleman with an honourable military rank who had served as a page and squire.
3. (by extension) An armored and mounted warrior of the Middle Ages.
   King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table
4. (law, historical) A person obliged to provide knight service in exchange for maintenance of an estate held in knight's fee.
5. (modern) A person on whom a knighthood has been conferred by a monarch.
6. (literary) A brave, chivalrous and honorable man devoted to a noble cause or love interest.
7. (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.
8. (card games, dated) A playing card bearing the figure of a knight; the knave or jack.
9. (entomology) Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genus Ypthima.
10. (modern) Any mushroom belonging to genus Tricholoma.

Etymology 2

From Middle English knighten, kniȝten, from the noun. Cognate with Middle High German knehten.

verb

1. (transitive) To confer knighthood upon.
   The king knighted the young squire.
2. (chess, transitive) To promote (a pawn) to a knight.