knight-errant

[ nahyt-er-uhnt ]

noun

, plural knights-er·rant.

1. a wandering knight; a knight who traveled widely in search of adventures, to exhibit military skill, to engage in chivalric deeds, etc.

knight errant

noun

1. (esp in medieval romance) a knight who wanders in search of deeds of courage, chivalry, etc

Word History and Origins

Origin of knight-errant¹

Middle English word dating back to 1300–50

Example Sentences

By the 1980s, it had become their Holy Grail, and Bob Enea — nephew of Tony Berry, who piloted the boat through the Sea of Cortez — was their knight errant.

From Los Angeles Times

In his book on Cantor, Everything and More, David Foster Wallace writes: “The Mentally Ill Mathematician seems now in some ways to be what the Knight Errant, Mortified Saint, Tortured Artist, and Mad Scientist have been for other eras: sort of our Prometheus, the one who goes to forbidden places and returns with gifts we can all use but he alone pays for.”

From Literature

Four hundred years ago, Miguel de Cervantes invented him, a lowly nobleman whose love for romance and chivalry leads him to fantasize that he is a knight errant, riding across the Spanish countryside on his old hag, which he imagines to be a noble steed, in search of outlandish adventures and glory.

From Los Angeles Times

Most of these explorations come through the eyes of Connelly’s knight errant, Hieronymus “Harry” Bosch, a relentless detective whose motto — quoted on a conference room wall in LAPD’s real headquarters — is “Everybody Counts or Nobody Counts.”

From Los Angeles Times

A cynical filmmaker is drawn into a fantasy world inspired by Cervantes’ classic tale about a delusional Spanish knight errant.

From Los Angeles Times