knight: [OE] The word knight has come up in the world over the centuries. In the Old English period it simply meant ‘boy’ or ‘young man’. By the 10th century it had broadened out to ‘male servant’, and within a hundred years of that we find it being used for ‘military servant, soldier’. This is the general level or ‘rank’ at which the word’s continental relatives, German and Dutch knecht, have remained.
But in England, in the course of the early Middle Ages, knight came to denote, in the feudal system, ‘one who bore arms in return for land’, and later ‘one raised to noble rank in return for military service’. The modern notion of knighthood as a rung in the nobility, without any necessary connotations of military prowess, dates from the 16th century.
knight (n.)
Old English cniht "boy, youth; servant, attendant," common West Germanic (cognates: Old Frisian kniucht, Dutch knecht, Middle High German kneht "boy, youth, lad," German Knecht "servant, bondman, vassal"), of unknown origin. The plural in Middle English sometimes was knighten. Meaning "military follower of a king or other superior" is from c. 1100. Began to be used in a specific military sense in Hundred Years War, and gradually rose in importance until it became a rank in the nobility 16c. The chess piece so called from mid-15c. Knight in shining armor in figurative sense is from 1917, from the man who rescues the damsel in distress in romantic dramas (perhaps especially "Lohengrin"). Knights of Columbus, society of Catholic men, founded 1882 in New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.; Knights of Labor, trade union association, founded in Philadelphia, 1869; Knights of Pythias, secret order, founded in Washington, 1864.
knight (v.)
"to make a knight of (someone)," early 13c., from knight (n.). Related: Knighted; knighting.
双语例句
1. Mr Knight said that he had resigned for personal reasons.
奈特先生说他是由于个人原因而辞职。
来自柯林斯例句
2. This collection of essays is edited by Ellen Knight.
这本文集是由埃伦·奈特编选的。
来自柯林斯例句
3. a medieval ballad about a knight and a lady
一首关于骑士和贵族小姐的中世纪谣曲
来自《权威词典》
4. The knight carried a shield with a cross painted thereupon.
骑士拿着绘着十字的盾牌.
来自《简明英汉词典》
5. Knight was the top title for field soldiers during the Middle Ages.
