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Definition of knight noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

knight

noun
 
/naɪt/
 
/naɪt/
Idioms
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  1. (in the Middle Ages) a man of high social rank who had a duty to fight for his king. Knights are often shown in pictures riding horses and wearing armour.
    • tales of medieval knights errant, wandering in search of chivalrous adventures
    see also black knight, white knight
    Homophones knight | nightknight   night
     
    /naɪt/
     
    /naɪt/
    • knight noun
      • The story tells of a knight who leaves a castle to fight a dragon.
    • night noun
      • At night you can see thousands of stars.
    Topics Historyb2
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective
    • medieval
    • chivalrous
    • noble
    phrases
    • a knight errant
    • a knight in armour/​armor
    • a knight in shining armour/​armor
    See full entry
  2. (in the UK) a man who has been given a special honour by the king or queen and has the title Sir before his name compare baronetTopics People in societyb2
  3. a piece used in the game of chess that is like a horse’s head in shapeTopics Games and toysc2
  4. Word OriginOld English cniht ‘boy, youth, servant’, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch knecht and German Knecht. Sense (2) dates from the mid 16th cent.
Idioms
a knight in shining armour
  1. (usually humorous) a man who saves somebody, especially a woman, from a dangerous situation
    • She's still waiting for a knight in shining armour to come and rescue her.
See knight in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary
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