In 1884, Angelo Moriondo of Turin, Italy, demonstrated the first working example of an espresso machine.
KNIGHT
knight, horse
(noun) a chessman shaped to resemble the head of a horse; can move two squares horizontally and one vertically (or vice versa)
knight
(noun) originally a person of noble birth trained to arms and chivalry; today in Great Britain a person honored by the sovereign for personal merit
knight, dub
(verb) raise (someone) to knighthood; “The Beatles were knighted”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology 1
Noun
knight (plural knights)
(historical) A young servant or follower; a trained military attendant in service of a lord.
(historical) A minor nobleman with an honourable military rank who had served as a page and squire.
(by extension) An armored and mounted warrior of the Middle Ages.
(modern) A person on whom a knighthood has been conferred by a monarch.
(literary) A brave, chivalrous and honorable man devoted to a noble cause or love interest.
(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.
(card games, dated) A playing card bearing the figure of a knight; the knave or jack.
(entomology) Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genus Ypthima.
(modern) A generic name for various mushrooms belonging to the fungal order gilled mushrooms; scientific name Tricholoma.
Synonyms
• (chess piece): horse (informal)
Etymology 2
Verb
knight (third-person singular simple present knights, present participle knighting, simple past and past participle knighted)
(transitive) To confer knighthood upon.
(chess, transitive) To promote (a pawn) to a knight.
Synonyms
• dub
Etymology
Proper noun
Knight
An English surname for someone who was a mounted soldier.
Statistics
• According to the 2010 United States Census, Knight is the 209th most common surname in the United States, belonging to 136,713 individuals. Knight is most common among White (72.31%) and Black (21.61%) individuals.
Source: Wiktionary
Knight, n. Etym: [OE. knight, cniht, knight, soldier, As. cniht, cneoht, a boy, youth, attendant, military follower; akin to D. & G. knecht servant; perh. akin to E. kin.]
1. A young servant or follower; a military attendant. [Obs.]
2. (a) 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. (b) 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. [Eng.] Hence: (c) A champion; a partisan; a lover. "Give this ring to my true knight." Shak "In all your quarrels will I be your knight." Tennyson. Knights, by their oaths, should right poor ladies' harms. Shak.
Note: Formerly, when a knight's name was not known, it was customary to address him as Sir Knight. The rank of a knight is not hereditary.
3. A piece used in the game of chess, usually bearing a horse's head.
4. A playing card bearing the figure of a knight; the knave or jack. [Obs.] Carpet knight. See under Carpet.
– Knight of industry. See Chevalier d'industrie, under Chevalier.
– Knight of Malta, Knight of Rhodes, Knight of St. John of Jerusalem. See Hospitaler.
– Knight of the post, one who gained his living by giving false evidence on trials, or false bail; hence, a sharper in general. Nares. "A knight of the post, . . . quoth he, for so I am termed; a fellow that will swear you anything for twelve pence." -- Nash.
– Knight of the shire, in England, one of the representatives of a county in Parliament, in distinction from the representatives of cities and boroughs.
– Knights commanders, Knights grand cross, different classes of the Order of the Bath. See under Bath, and Companion. Knights of labor, a secret organization whose professed purpose is to secure and maintain the rights of workingmen as respects their relations to their employers. [U. S.] -- Knights of Pythias, a secret order, founded in Washington, d.C., in 1864, for social and charitable purposes.
– Knights of the Round Table, knights belonging to an order which, according to the legendary accounts, was instituted by the mythical King Arthur. They derived their common title from the table around which they sat on certain solemn days. Brande & C.
Knight, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Knighted; p. pr. & vb. n. Knighting.]
Definition: 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 ---. A soldier, by the honor-giving hand Of Cknighted in the field. Shak.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
25 September 2024
TRAINED
(adjective) shaped or conditioned or disciplined by training; often used as a combining form; “a trained mind”; “trained pigeons”; “well-trained servants”
Coffee Trivia