Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Of or pertaining to a knight or knights; befitting a knight; chivalrous: as, a knightly combat.
  • In a manner like or becoming a knight; chivalrously.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adverb In a manner becoming a knight.
  • adjective Of or pertaining to a knight; becoming a knight; chivalrous

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to a knight or knights.
  • adjective Befitting a knight; formally courteous (as a knight); chivalrous, gallant and courtly.
  • adverb In the manner of a knight; chivalrously.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective characteristic of the time of chivalry and knighthood in the Middle Ages
  • adjective being attentive to women like an ideal knight

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English knightly, knightlich, from Old English cnihtlīċ ("boyish, youthful, childish"), equivalent to knight +‎ -ly. Cognate with Dutch knechtelijk ("servile"), German knechtlich ("menial").

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Examples

  • I agree about atonement but think that keira knightly is a bit of a terrible actress to be honest the remake of pride and prejudice was terrible to since when is Mr Collins the sexiest person in the film.

    Join the Great Adaptations discussion now! 2009

  • May 16, 2006 12: 07 PM keira knightly is truely aweful.

    Filmstalker: Knightley to play Dylan Thomas' wife 2006

  • As this passed in the French language, the meaning escaped the understanding of such Imperialists as were within hearing at the time; and the Princess, who waited with some astonishment till the Crusader and the Varangian had finished their conference, when it was over, said to him with interest, "I trust you feel that poor man's situation to be too much at a distance from your own, to admit of your meeting him in what is termed knightly battle?"

    Waverley Novels — Volume 12 Walter Scott 1801

  • Kern does not indicate the remedy that the women sought, but his gloss of the complaints implies that it entailed a revision (certainly not a wholesale abandonment) of the agreements — perhaps, as we shall see in a moment, by creating an enforceable system of rules more sharply delineating the boundaries of "knightly" behavior.

    Manhood in the Age of Aquarius: Masculinity in Two Countercultural Communities, 1965–83 2007

  • Stephen's teachings required married men to support their wives by acting as "knightly" providers and fathers.

    Manhood in the Age of Aquarius: Masculinity in Two Countercultural Communities, 1965–83 2007

  • He rides a very showy dappled grey horse tricked out with red leather tack and every kind of knightly knob and medallion.

    Fortune's Favorites McCullough, Colleen, 1937- 1993

  • If the sides were equally matched in strength and weapons, and if the witness in question did not know any of the fighters before, she will nevertheless redistribute sun and wind in her description if one of the brawlers happens accidentally to have interested her, or has behaved in a "knightly" fashion, though under other circumstances he might have earned only her dislike.

    Criminal Psychology: a manual for judges, practitioners, and students 1911

  • She had great faith, for, in her favourite way, she had "made a picture of him," riding up and down among the dunes, with the "knightly" look on his face which had first drawn her thoughts to him.

    The Golden Silence 1901

  • John de Brocas was a very thoughtful youth, very different in appearance from his younger brothers, who were fine stalwart young men, well versed in every kind of knightly exercise, and delighting in nothing so much as the display of their energies and skill.

    In the Days of Chivalry Evelyn Everett-Green 1894

  • Varangian had finished their conference, when it was over, said to him with interest, “I trust you feel that poor man’s situation to be too much at a distance from your own, to admit of your meeting him in what is termed knightly battle?”

    Count Robert of Paris 2008

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