— knightless , adj.
/nuyt/ , n.
1. a mounted soldier serving under a feudal superior in the Middle Ages.
2. (in Europe in the Middle Ages) a man, usually of noble birth, who after an apprenticeship as page and squire was raised to honorable military rank and bound to chivalrous conduct.
3. any person of a rank similar to that of the medieval knight.
4. a man upon whom the nonhereditary dignity of knighthood is conferred by a sovereign because of personal merit or for services rendered to the country. In Great Britain he holds the rank next below that of a baronet, and the title Sir is prefixed to the Christian name, as in Sir John Smith.
5. a member of any order or association that designates its members as knights.
6. Chess. a piece shaped like a horse's head, moved one square vertically and then two squares horizontally or one square horizontally and two squares vertically.
7. Naut.
a. a short vertical timber having on its head a sheave through which running rigging is rove.
b. any other fitting or erection bearing such a sheave.
v.t.
8. to dub or make (a man) a knight.
[ bef. 900; ME; OE cniht boy, manservant; c. G, D knecht servant ]