Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In ancient Rome, the knights, a body originally constituting the cavalry of the army, of patrician rank, and equipped by the state, but afterward comprising also rich plebeians, and in part finding their own equipments.
  • [capitalized] In zoology, a Linnean group of butterflies, corresponding to the old genus Papilio.

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

  • noun (Rom. Antiq.) An order of knights holding a middle place between the senate and the commonalty; members of the Roman equestrian order.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Nor is the opinion of Hannibal opposed to this who, when he saw in the engagement at Cannae that the Consuls made their horsemen descend on foot, making a mock of a like proceeding, said: Quam malem vinctos mini traderent equites, that is, I would have more concern if they would give them to me bound.

    Discourses 2003

  • Among them was one of the consuls; a large number of their knights, their "equites," and a great number of their prominent men.

    The German Peace Offer 1916

  • Realist, philosopher, opportunist and social climber, he was no patrician but a knight of the Empire, a member of the equites, a position of class that could be purchased in those days for a price.

    What is truth? Throwing stones in a wilderness of mirrors James Lloyd Davis 2011

  • The latter's list included 190-300 Senators and some 2,000 equites.

    Guvmint: The New Antichrist 2009

  • I have tiaa-cref with 77% in equites, 12% in real estate and 10% in guarentees.

    Live Blog from the Anchor Desk 9/29/08 2008

  • Among other reports weighing on the markets Thursday, homeowner equites has dropped below 50 percent - that's the first since the end of WWII. Worse than that, home foreclosures have hit a record high in the aftermath of the subprime debacle, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

    Wall Street Down On More Credit Woes; Home Foreclosures Hit Record High 2008

  • The property was originally the site of the barracks and training grounds of the equites singulares Augusti, a private corps of mounted Imperial bodyguards thought to have been formed by the emperor Trajan at the end of the first century A.D.

    Martyrs or Imperial Guard? 2008

  • During the period of use by the equites, however, this site was also used as a cemetery for the soldiers who served here.

    Martyrs or Imperial Guard? 2008

  • Has he ever come up with the 300,000 sesterces to become an equites and marry Helena?

    The Tinner's Corpse: A Crowner John Mystery Carla 2007

  • Even though equites have outperformed all investments such as bonds since time began.

    The Gordon Brown Meme 2007

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