knight of the... n.
‘Various jocular (formerly often slang) phrases denoting one who is a member of a certain trade or profession, has a certain occupation or character etc. In the majority of these the distinctive word is the name of some tool or article commonly used by or associated with the person designated, and the number of such phrases may be indefinitely increased.’ (OED) While the earlier (16C–18C) terms definitely have this occupational basis, the later (19C) ones tend to use the occupation in more of an ironic or joking sense.
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Hickscorner Biii: I am come of goode kynne I tell the[e] My moder was a lady of the stewes blode borne And knyght of the halter my fader ware an horne. | |
| Pierce Pennilesse in Works II (1883–4) 7: [Author to the Printer] In one place of my Booke, Pierce Penilesse faith but to the Knight of the Post, I pray how might I call you, and they say, I meant one Howe, a Knaue of the trade, that I neuer heard of before. | |
| Scornful Lady III i: If you keep this quarter, and maintain about you Such Knights o’ the Sun as this is, to defy Men of employment to you, you may live; But in what fame? | |
| Damoiselle III ii: In the name of Peasantry, what Knight art thou, / If not the Knight of the Plough-share? | |
| Wit in a Constable II i: From the glory of her fathers trade, The Knight o’the Burning pestle. | |
| Lady Alimony I iii: That Knight of the Sun who imploy’d me, should have done his errand himself. | |
| Poor Robins Character of France title page: By Poor Robin, Knight of the Burnt-Island. | |
| Epsom Wells I i: We are like Knight Errands, or Knights of the Bath. | |
| Dialgue betw. a Yorkshire Alderman and a Salamanca Doctor 1: How now Lie apace, Vicar of Tyburn and Knight of the noble Order of the Halter. | |
| London Spy XII 286: At last one of the Burgesses of the Dripping Pan [i.e. a cook] starts up. [Ibid.] 287: He that was the chief Leader of the Knights of the Frying-Pan, strutted about. | |
| in Wit’s Cabinet 125: A Knight of the long Robe is more honourable than a Knight made in a Field; for Furs are dearer than Spurs. | |
| Compleat and Humorous Account of Remarkable Clubs (1756) 249: These Knights of the Nosegay [i.e. florists], or floriferous Gentlemen, who are seldom to be seen without a Flower in their Mouths, or stuck into their Button-Holes. | |
| Don Quixote II iii: Notwithstanding what you may have heard of the Knight of the Long-purse, if you oppose him briskly, I dare answer for your Success. | |
| in Song 127 Muses Delight 278/2: A whipping-post knight! | |
| Festivous Notes I iii 18: It once happened to a Knight of the Wallet. | |
| View of Society II 192: A French Nobleman [...] saw the process of detection, came up to our Knight of Industry, and told him, that ‘he supposed he had forgottten his pocket-book in his lodgings’. | |
| ‘Blood Royal’ Political Songster 177: A Knight of the Thistle, or Knight of the Garter, / Was ne’er any better. | |
| Sporting Mag. Jan. III 209/1: A party of tradesmen, amongst whom was a hair-dresser, undertook to perform the tragedy [...] the part of Jassier being allotted to the knight of the comb [etc.]. [Ibid.] Mar. 304/1: He [...] advises parents not to be so weak as to give their children a liberal education, with a view of becoming [...] ‘Knights of the Anvil.’. | |
| Sporting Mag. Mar. V 308/2: Mrs Middleton had made all the out-offices [...] the shrubberies and bathing-house, the frequent scene of her criminal intercourse with her Knight of the Curry-comb [i.e. a groom]. | |
| ‘Epistle to Count Rumford’ Works (1801) V 449: Knight of the Dishclout, wheresoe’er I walk I hear thee, Rumford, all the kitchen talk. | |
| Sporting Mag. Mar. XXV 315/2: With the iron frying pan in her uplifted hands eagerly waiting to cut down the [...] knight of the hammer. | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | Spirit of Irish Wit 152: A Mr Spedding, Knight of the Ivory Cubes. and celebrated in the gambling annals of Dublin. | |
| Lectures on Art of Writing (1840) 39: I am a Master of Arts [...] Knight of the Cane cudgel. | |
| Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress 76: As sweet as the brandy and tea, rather thinnish, / That Knights of the Rumpad so rurally sip. | |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | Kenilworth I 156: When an old song comes across us merry old knights of the spigot, it runs away with our discretion. | |
| Pierce Egan’s Life in London 10 Oct. 5/2: A good fight took place between [...] two Knights of the Currycomb. | |
| Mornings in Bow St. 228: Mr. Gluckman the bass singer, Mr. Phelim O'Toole the strong-backed Knight of the Knot. | |
| Pierce Egan’s Life in London 28 Aug. 245/1: [A]n immense muster of the most celebrated Knights of Dough in the metropolis. | |
| Chester Chron. 1 Dec. 4/4: [headline] A Knight of the Bodkin. | |
| Eng. Spy II 291: There is sometimes a little fastidiousness about these knights of the saddle-bag, in admitting a stranger to hob and nob with them. | |
| Bell's Life in London 5 Feb. 7/1: The presence of these gentlemen [...] the Knights of the Fives [i.e. prizefighters]. | |
| Bk of Sports (1832) 20: The ‘Knight of the Block’ [i.e. a barber] has beaten me against my will. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Albany Microscope (NY) 2 June n.p.: John Carmichael, baker [...] This knight of the dough [etc]. | |
| Ely’s Hawk & Buzzard (NY) Sept. 8 n.p.: Prince Andrew, Knight of the Hammer and Anvil. | |
| song title in Rummy Cove’s Delight in Spedding & Watt (eds) Bawdy Songbooks (2011) III 98: The Knight of the New Iron Goose. | |
| Sketches in London 202: ‘That is his right name,’ insisted the knight of the bludgeon. | |
| Era 11 Mar. 10/4: Somewhere in the West a sable Knight of the lather was [...] shaving a ‘hoosier’. | |
| Sam Sly 24 Mar. 3/1: He advises P. W. [...] a knight of the counter, not to ‘do the extensive’ in that heavy sack coat, in which he tries to pass himself off for a gentleman. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Bell’s Life in Sydney 8 Feb. 2/7: [T]he ‘Repentent Cross-leg Knight of the Cabbage and Shears '[i.e. a tailor]’. | |
| Kendal Mercury 3 Apr. 6/1: We will take leave of the Knights of the bag [i.e. a tramp]. | |
| Life in Boston & N.Y. (Boston, MA) 1 Oct. n.p.: The other two were knights of the toddy stick, from a well known rum shop. | |
| Bell’s Life in Sydney 4 June 3/2: A knight of the hammer and pulpit [i.e. an auctioneer] . | |
| Life in Boston & N.Y. (Boston, MA) 14 Apr. n.p.: A second grand foot race [...] between a celebrated knight of Hoops and Staves [i.e. a cooper], and an Amatuer [sic]. | |
| Adventures of Philip (1899) 141: The dice-box went round in many a haunt of pleasure. The knights of the Four Kings travelled from capital to capital, and engaged each other or made prey of the unwary. | |
| in Songs for the Army 26–28: [titles] The Knight of the Rose/ The Knight of the Shamrock/ The Knight of the Thistle. | |
| London Life 42: These knights of the barrow – in the language of the fraternity – often boast that if one ‘pulls up his boot,’ he can ‘make the up his leg’ by going to market early and ‘knock in’ his ‘ten or twelve hog afore breakfast’. | |
| Morpeth Herald 30 Mar. 6/3: ‘Respected citizen, and of the honorable craft of the tailor,’ [...] Mr Thomas Pow, knight of the scissors, bowed. | |
| Leeds Times 30 Apr. 8/2: The ranks of the ‘blue army’ [...] in favour of teetotalism [...] ought to be extended to the knight of the blue banner in his crusade against the temptations of the bottle. | |
| ‘The Jolly Vaquero’ in et al. (eds.) Songs of the Amer. West (1968) 337: True knight of the saddle is he. | |
| Daily Tel. 18 Nov. n.p.: The crack coaches... were tooled by expert ‘knights of the bench’. | |
| Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 30 Jan. 14/1: [of a travelling salesman] A Knight of the Grip married the girl who dusted his room. | |
| Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 16 Oct. 8: [pic. caption] The extraordinary performance [...] of a well-known copper and a female knight of the beerglass [i.e. barmaid] at Reading, PA. | |
| Forty Years a Gambler 188: When I saw the knight of the punch bearing down upon them, I jumped up and met him. | |
| Dead Bird (Sydney) 26 Oct. 3/2: Ten to one was freely offered by one local knight of the hammer. | |
| Sporting Times 29 Mar. 6/5: What’s worse than a boring barber? Pitcher [...] went into a King’s Cross chin-tearer’s to be scraped. The knight of the lather, as he ‘went over’ the ground, ran his fingers daintily over Pitcher’s caput. | |
| Truth (Sydney) 15 Apr. 1/8: A Surrey Hills pawnbroker [...] deposed that Mr James Thomas [...] came into his shop [...] and picked up two very fine gold nugget pins and asked: ‘Would you recommend me to take them?’ ‘Yes I would,’ replied the Knight of the Golden Balls. | |
| Spanish Fork Press (UT) 4 Oct. 3/4: They have chosen knights of the yard-stick, a quill-pusher, and a lawyer [...] and propose to place these men to make your laws. | |
| Scarlet City 132: Oscar [...] is a most remarkable man among knights of the napkin [i.e. waiters]. | |
| L.A. Herald 9 Apr. 🌐 I turn to the blue-coated Knight of the Trolley, who tells me just exactly how to get on and off a car. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 12 Oct. 3/2: Just remark such truth is painin’ in a knight of rod and net; / Then swim out! and mooch for Canaan, ’cos your swag is gettin’ wet! | |
| Sun. Times (Perth) 17 July 1/1: The supper-room scandal at a riverview pub concerns a commercial and a hammer-knight's helpmeet [...] the artless auctioneer goes about serenely unconscious of the commercial’s caper. | |
| Sporting Times 27 May 1/2: He went to get his hair cut, and the knight of the scissors tucked a napkin under his chin. | |
| Bar-20 iv: Two score or more joyous cowboys from the neighboring ranches, who livened things as those knights of the saddle could. | |
| N.Y. World 29 Sept. in Unforgettable Season (1981) 267: The gallant Knight of the Wallop, ‘Turkey Mike’ Donlin [i.e. a batter]. | |
| Truth (Brisbane) 10 Jan. 11/1: [headline] KNIGHTS OF THE KNUCKLE / FLUTTERS FOR FISTIC FAME. | |
| Bush Cooks in Life in the Aus. Backblocks 82: The ‘knights of the flour-bag’ come in for a good deal of discussion at camp fires. A stockman one night related an experience with a ‘pick-up,’ who officiated during a mustering tour, being provided in this instance with a small hut. | |
| Polly and Her Pals 18 May [synd. cartoon strip] We’ll go fifty-fifty on this here knight of the button-hook stuff. | |
| ‘A Tale of Two Fists’ III in Morn. News (Wilmington, DE) 18 Apr. 13/1: I was a little curious to see how prosperity had affected a former knight of the brakebeams. | |
| Townsville Daily Bulletin (Qld) 22 Nov. 4s/3: The jockey [...] camped on the billabong with the knghts of the shear blade. | |
| New York Day by Day 29 Dec. [synd. col.] It costs a fortune to gild the menials. There is a district given over to pluming Knights of the Tip [i.e. elevator operators, bellboys, doormen etc.]. | |
| Crooks of the Und. 138: By ‘barber,’ I do not mean a knight of the razor. | |
| One Wet Season 11: There came the rattle of plates and eating tools; a noisy, cheery breakfast, the knights of the knives and forks slyly gallant to the Vision and her buxom offsider. |
In phrases
a cobbler.
 | Tyne Mercury 17 Sept. 2/5: Three journeymen bootmakers were conviSed of a combination [...] if the masters had acceded to the wishes of these knights of the awl, eight-ninths of their business would have had to been sacrificed. | |
| Westmorland Gaz. 17 June 2/5: These were men of all grades, from the knights of the awl, thimble, and shuttle, up to the great Champion himself. | |
| Ely’s Hawk & Buzzard (NY) Sept. 8 n.p.: A boot cramper, and Knight of the Awl, whose magnificent cobbler’s stall stands near the Fifth Ward Hotel. | |
| Fife Herald 8 Dec. 3/3: The temporary loss of the white hat of the knight of the awl. | |
| Wkly Rake (NY) 30 July n.p.: wants to knowWhat Mr F.— , the ‘Knight of the awl, needle and waxed thread [...] means by not paying men that he employs. | |
| Essex Standard 16 Feb. 2/6: A gallant knight of the awl [...] wooed and won a buxom widow. | |
| John o’ Groat Jrnl 18 Aug. 2/8: In 1852 it was ‘Johnie lad,’ as out knight of the awl called him. | |
| N. Devon Jrnl 9 Feb. 8/6: That well-known knight of the awl, William Y. Berry. | |
| Western Times 24 Mar. 8/4: A certain ‘knight of the awl’ a day or two ago received a letter containing an offer. |
a schoolteacher.
| Exeter Flying Post 7 Jan. 4/4: A comely-looking wench, with [...] such pretty pouting rose-coloured lips that we do not wonder [...] they inspired the soul of the aged knight of the birch. |
a heavy drinker.
| ‘The London Lady’ Epigrams and Poems 191: The Citty Usher [...] dubs them bach’lor Knight of the black Jugg. |
see separate entry.
In compounds
1. a censor.
| Dly Teleg. (Launceston, Tas.) 10 Feb. 6/2: [E]ven this -puissant knight of the blue pencil does not aIways succeed in punching all the unconscious humor out of their communications. | |
| Dundee Eve. Post 30 May 6/2: ‘Knight of the Blue Pencil’. The Duties of the Press Censor. | |
| Cheltenham Chron. 11 Dec. 3/3: But soft, behold where the knight of the blue pencil stalks! [...] but perhaps at this time of general electioneering I may be forgiven mild flutter the game at which everybody is, in the parlance, ‘having a pennorth’. | |
| Yorks. Post 1 Apr. 8/6: ‘We are back at the Leeds Star Chamber. No. 1, Park Row. where the knight of the blue pencil sits in solitary state and crosses out and puts in’. | |
| Sun. Times (Perth) 20 Dec. 11/4: ‘Interview?’ said Mr. M. L. Moss. ‘Oh! yes — if the censor pleases [...] There is no division, but a united Empire, and we shall win. There! do you think that will pass the Knight of the Blue Pencil? | |
| Milngavie & Bearsden Herald 1 Apr. 1/3: [A]ll the emanations of his diseased and wandering brain are read by a bored but peace-loving knight of the blue pencil . | |
| Manchester Eve. News 29 Nov. 2/4: The ways of the Knights of the Blue Pencil often baffle editors, so they must completely mystify readers. |
2. (Aus.) a newspaper sub-editor.
| Kalgoorlie Miner (WA) 12 Nov. 2/2: It is impossible for me to give you a detailed description [...] because if I did the knight of the blue pencil would be sure to line it out. | |
| Mercury (Hobart, Tas.) 28 Apr. 11/9: This is where the art of the true Knight of the Blue Pencil comes in. He it is who, by a process of judicious selection and pruning, accomplishes such seemingly impossible tasks as ‘getting a quart into a pint pot’. | |
| W. Australian (Perth) 10 Aug. 6/8: ‘Do you think, sir,’ asked the visitor, ‘there's a chance of that poem I sent in on the silver jubilee getting in your paper sooner or later?’ ‘There may be, later,’ barked the knight of the blue pencil. |
3. (Aus.) a film editor.
| Mercury (Hobart, Tas.) 25 Feb. 16/3: The experienced knights of the blue pencil [...] saved an hour and a half by disembowelling the play. |
(US) a tramp.
| letter 5 Nov. in Byrkit Letters from the Southwest (1989) 68: You never saw such a country as this for tramps. I have met or overtaken more of these knights of the brogan [...] between here and Denver than in all the rest of my trip. |
1. a chimney sweep.
| Sporting Mag. Mar. XIII 356/1: They beheld the knight of the brush in his sable robes. | |
| Eve. Mail (London) 9 Apr. 3/3: A chimney sweeper’s boy got into a butter-basket [...] and fell asleep [...] Two thieves passing along shortly afterwards, and conceiving the basket filled with butter or eggs, carried it away [...] to divide the spoil, when lo! instead of rich booty, out sprang the young knight of the brush. | |
| Wrocs. Jrnl 1 Mar. 4/4: The owner of the house, [...] rushed forth, and wresting an oaken cudgel from the poor sweep’s hand, belaboured him unmercifully, that the discomfited knight of the brush and shovel was fain seek safety in flight. | |
| Morn. Post (London) 4 Sept. 3/5: A dingy knight of the brush grinning at her sorrows. | |
| Stamford Mercury 20 Oct. 3/4: A well-known knight of the brush [...] took an airing on Sunday last in an open carriage [...] his manners offended the rustics. | |
| Morn. Post (London) 1 Feb. 8/1: The worthy knight of the soot-brush arrived late. | |
| Kendal Mercury 9 Mar. 1/2: Chimney-Sweeper and Thieves [...] Turning round suddenly, they beheld the knight of the brush. | |
| Morn. Chron. (London) 30 Mar. 8/4: Shaw, a knight of the brush, who appeared in his working clothes, about as black and as sootty as if he had just descended from a ‘foul flue’. | |
| Sheffield Indep. 8 July 3/4: A group [...] got hold of a luckless chimney-sweep who had proved obnoxious to them, and they made him suffer. One of the miners drew him into a fight [...] but the knight of the brush was nowhere, and had to give in to his brawny antagonist. | |
| Leics. Chron. 23 Sept. 7: As the chimney sweeping fraternity do not [...] usually attain to a very high standard of integrity, it is worthy of note that a purse containing 55., picked up in the street a few days ago by a sable knight of the brush [etc]. | |
| Whitstable Times 23 Jan. 6/5: A milkman met the local sweep [and] asked him him when he had a good wash last, to which the knight of the brush immediately replied [etc.]. |
2. an artist, a (house) painter.
| Morn. Chron. 1 July 3/2: We hear of a character that proposes to cover himself all over with stars, crosses and ribands, as a Knight of the Brush. | |
| Pierce Egan’s Life in London 18 Sept. 270/1: A deputy ‘Knight of the Brush,’ [...] immediately furnished the lady with a fresh object of attack. | |
| Ely’s Hawk & Buzzard (NY) Sept. 8 n.p.: This knight of the brush [...] now has been made town bull. | |
| Hereford Times 6 Oct. 3/6: A full-grown love-sick painter’s apprentice was brought before the Magistrates [but] even their authority could not restrain the amorous propensity of this ‘knight of the brush’. | |
| Preston Chron. 8 Apr. 5/2: A worthy bumpkin [...] fell into the hands of some mischievous knights of the brush. | |
| Wkly Varieties (Boston, MA) 3 Sept. 5/3: The knights of the brush kept their colors in a certain domestic utensil. | |
| Huddersfield Chron. 14 May 4/6: ‘Just do any good thing that you can think of. You are a painter.’ [...] ‘I’ll do it,’ said the knight of the brush. | |
| Aberdeen Eve. News 1 Nov. 4/2: An artist is not morally above pillaging the hoard of a brother knight of the brush. | |
| Sl. and Its Analogues. | |
| Edinburgh Eve. News 14 Jan. 2/6: ‘A Knight of the Brush’ writes [etc.]. |
a drunkard.
| New Dict. Cant (1795) n.p.: knight of the brush and moon idle drunken fellows. | |
| Dict. Sl. and Cant. | |
| Flash Dict. | |
| Sussex Advertiser 14 Apr. 4/3: Pitmen, colliers, bog-trotters, black-legs, ken-cadgers with their king’s motts, knights of the road, and also a few knights of the brush and moon. | |
| Modern Flash Dict. | |
| Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open. | |
| New and Improved Flash Dict. |
a butcher.
| Sporting Mag. May IV 70/1: A man, whose appearance bespoke him a knight of the cleaver [...] brandishing the terrible instrument of his trade. | |
| Sporting Mag. Nov. XIX 97/1: Two near neighbours [...] the one a Knight of the Shears, and the other of the Cleaver. | |
| Life in London (1869) 193: The Whitechapel Knight of the Cleaver and his fat ‘Rib’. | |
| Ely’s Hawk & Buzzard (NY) Aug. 31 n.p.: We tanned the Hide of a Butcher last week, and now we want to find out whether some Knight of the Cleaver [...] is not particular in charging . | |
| Crim.-Con. Gaz. 29 Sept. Sept. 42/2: ‘The mother of Lord Seagrave was the daughter of a knight of the cleaver, which, in the vulgar tongue, is yclept a butcher’. | |
| Western Times 4 Jan. 3/6: Master Lodger, an assistant of one of the knights of the cleaver of this city, undertook, for a trifling bet, to eat [...] a small pig stuffed and baked. | |
| Picking from N.O. Picayune 73: He is [...] a knight of the cleaver, or butcher. | |
| Bell’s Life in Sydney 20 Nov. 2/2: Her incontinence had frequently led her into amorous dalliance with a seductive knight of the cleaver. | |
| Leeds intelligencer 21 Aug. 10/1: One of our [...] townsmen went into the shop of a ‘knight of the cleaver’ in order to purchase half a leg of veal. | |
| Kendal Mercury 4 Sept. 5/4: One of the racers is known as a knight of the cleaver and steel. | |
| Derbyshire Times 8 Apr. 8/4: The conflict was between two worthy sons of the arts and sciences — one being aknight of the cleaver and steel, the other a man of colour. | |
| Western Gaz. 4 Jan. 6/2: A donkey match between a well-known ex-steeple chase gentleman rider’s ‘Fly Away’ and a celebrated knight of the cleaver’s ‘Jemmy’. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 24 Jan. 13/2: Before commencing proceedings, a certain retired knight of the cleaver, who rejoices in the appellation of old Gift, made a very pertinent inquiry as to who was the coming man, and was he going to wet it. | |
| Cornishman 12 Oct. 4/6: A big brown retriever smelt the toothsome meat, and, when the knight of cleaver was busy serving, he walked off with it. | |
| Western Times 5 May 4/6: The announcement [was] that Mr George Bullen, a local butcher, would enter the lion’s cage. ‘Will he have sufficient pluck to do it?’ [...] but the daring knight of the cleaver soon put all doubts about the matter at rest. | |
| Laverton Mercury (WA) 31 Oct. 3/7: Other considerable bits which are placed at the extreme outward edge of the slab the knight-of-the-cleaver calls ‘dog-tempters,’ because they are put in such a place as to admit of the shopman getting a good aim at any marauding animal. | |
| Western Times 12 July 7/3: ‘But even now,’ interposed a knight of cleaver, ‘farmers are making good prices’. |
one who has been hanged.
| Interlude of Youth in II (1874) 15: God’s fate! thou didst enough there / For to be made knight of the collar. |
(UK Und.) a professional criminal; a cheating gambler who fixes sports.
| Pierce Egan’s Life in London 30 Oct. 317/1: [T]hese Knights of the Cross, who, by offering a premium to dishonesty, for their own sinister purposes , had destroyed the character of the Ring. | |
| Paul Clifford I 208: Gentleman George was a person of majestic dignity among the Knights of the Cross. |
a billiard-player; a billiard marker.
| Sporting Mag. Mar. I 367/2: The Heir Apparent of an Irish Marquis [...] lost 11,000 guineas, two or three nights since, at W—’s billiard table to a gentleman who proved himself to be a good calculator as well as able player! – The poor Knight of the Cue, and even the markers [...] contrived to pick up a few gleanings on this golden occasion. | |
| Ely’s Hawk & Buzzard (NY) 26 June 4/2: A certain knotty-headed knight of the cue. | |
| Morn. Chron. 27 Aug. 1/6: Most of the aristocratic ‘Knights of the Cue’ who remain in town congregate round the table every night. | |
| Belfast News Ltr 1 Sept. 4/2: james O’Hare, described as a ‘Knight of the Cue’ and Steward Morrow, a waiter, were charged with having been disorderly. | |
| York Herald 24 Jan. 20/5: These well-known ‘knights of the cue’ were matched to contest 10,000 points up (all in) on even terms. | |
| Sl. and Its Analogues IV 120/2: Knight of the cue – a billiard-marker. | |
| Cornishman 6 June 2/4: [The] knights of the cue pay to keep their [...] tables in such order as will help the game. | |
| Illus. Sporting & Dramatic News (London) 3 Nov. 30/1: That's just what I'm trying to avoid, explained the knight of the cue, I don’t want to cut the bally cloth. |
one who prefers the company of women and flirtatious words to that of men and macho action.
| Regiment 27 Jan. 31/2: Gallant gentlemen, heroes of a score of battles, who were no ‘knights of the drawing room,’ no poodle fakers’. |
a card-sharp, a cheating gambler.
| ‘A Ramble in St James’s Park’ in Works (1999) 77: Three Knights, o’th’ Elbow, and the slurr / With wriggling Tails, made up to her. |
1. a cuckold.
| Cobbler of Canterbury (1976) 12: He had dubd him knight of the forked order. | |
| Tinker of Turvey 16: He had dubd him knighte of the forked order. | |
| Hey for Honesty V i: They’d [...] dub me a knight of the forked order. | |
| Cheats V ii: Stick a bull’s feather in my cap! Make me a knight of the forked order! | |
| [trans.] Cervantes Don Quixote 18184: [T]he Legerdemain his Wife play’d him all the while, only serv’d to advance her the more in the good Opinion and Affection of the Knight of the Forked Order. | |
| Merry Companion 146: He shall have the Honour to be dubb’d a Knight of the Forked Order, and have his Name enroll’d in the Colony of Cuckoldom. | |
| Margaret (1851) I 189: You never heard of the Knights of the Forked Order. There is an old song,—‘Why my good father, what should you do with a wife? / Would you be crested?’. |
2. one whose job involves digging with a fork.
| ‘Great Eater of Kent’ in Hindley Works (1872) 8: Lackeys, Footmen, and Weavers, and Knights of the public or common order of the fork. |
(US Und.) one who enjoys anal intercourse.
| Und. Speaks. | |
| ‘Lang. of Homosexuality’ Appendix VII in Henry Sex Variants. | |
| Guild Dict. Homosexual Terms 26: knight of the golden grummet (n.): Active pedication; grummet: a nautical rope-ring, thus a suggestion of the anus. (Slang.). | |
| Queens’ Vernacular 18: the man who fucks in anal intercourse, as opposed to the one who is fucked [...] knight [of the golden grummet] (rare, so called because knights had lances). |
a teacher.
| Defence of the People of Eng. in Works (1851) 185: Till you light [...] upon a Stipend large enough for a Knight of the Grammar, or an Illustrious Critick on Horseback . |
1. (orig. US) a gambler.
| Leeds Mercury 25 June 7/6: [T]ravellers in Spain, who have not [...] had their pockets eased by the adventurous Knights of the Roead in the South of the Peninsula, will still [...] succumb to the wiles of the Knights of the Green Cloth in the North. | |
| Sl. Dict. Gamblers are called knights of the green cloth, and their lieutenants, who are sent out after greenhorns, are called decoys, cappers, and steerers. | |
| Sl. and Its Analogues. | |
| Hants Advertiser 18 Aug. 7/7: There were ominous signs [...] and even Denver Pete, redoubtable knight of the green cloth as he was, would have done well to have heeded them. |
2. a billiards or snooker player.
| Sheffield Dly Teleg. 13 Oct. 12/1: As the evenings lengthen and outdoor sports are impossible to the average worker, then is heard the click of the billiard balls, and the knights of the green cloth are very busy indeed. | |
| Western Mail 25 Feb. 4/8: Tom Carpenter, the brilliant young Cardiff knight of the green cloth, managed to retain the Welsh billiards championship. | |
| Exeter & Plymouth Gaz. 22 Dec. 8/4: Circus World [,,,] Adami, the human billiard table, ought make many knights of the green cloth feel rather ashamed of themselves. He scores cannons his back and seems have supernatural influence over the ivories. | |
| Bath Wkly Chron. 24 Apr. 17/1: [headline] ‘Knights of the Green Cloth’ Mayor talks to Bath Billiards league. | |
| Wilts. Times 14 Feb. 2/7: Who were the [...] Knights of the Green Cloth who were playing in snooker game for ten minutes before discovering that the pink ball was missing? |
1. one doomed to be hanged.
| Hickscorner Biii: I am come of goode kynne I tell the[e] My moder was a lady of the stewes blode borne And knyght of the halter my fader ware an horne. |
2. the hangman.
| Derby Mercury 1 Oct. 2/2: Mr Jack Ketch informed the Sheriffs that he could not think of acting in his official capacity any longer, unless his salary was raised [...] The Court [...] made known to the Knight of the Halter that the merits of his case should be taken into consideration. |
a bricklayer; a bricklayer’s labourer.
| Morn. Chron. 2 May 3/3: He was saluted by a volley of coarse compliments, uttered by a son of Erin, dubbed a Knight of the Hod. | |
| Eng. Spy II 25: Young Terence, a nate little knight o’ the hod. | |
| Sligo Champion 11 Mar. 1/3: A snark-headed knight of the hod came forward. | |
| Sussex Advertiser 31 Mar. 3/1: There was a charge of assault preferred by the complainant, who is a bricklayer [...] against the defendant who is also a knight of the hod. |
a thief or swindler.
| Lancaster Gaz. 23 June 4/3: A Knight of the Order of Industry, assuming the liovery of an Irish valetudinarian [...] received the ususal douceur [...] the author of the trick merely intended to raise the wind. | |
| Bucks. Herald 4 Mar. 6/5: There was Coroners, Lawyers, and Brewers, / [...] /A Quack Doctor and Birmingham Jew! / There were Knights of all orders and grades; / And a Knight too, of Industry. | |
| Tamworth Herald 7 May 3/2: One of the last arrests effected was that of a young knight of industry [...] It seems that no suspicion entered into the mind of the the recipient until the man was gone. | |
| Derby Dly Teleg. 20 Apr. 3/6: A rather ingenious system of swindling has been discovered by a Parisian knight of industry. | |
| Gloucester Citizen 13 Apr. 4/5: A ‘knight of the industry’ who stole a cheque-book [...] was a notorious swindler and imposter. | |
| Eve. Standard (Dundee) 25 Dec. 4/5: An actress lodged a complaint against a gorgeous knight of the industry who called himself Lord Leicester [...] The woman [...] accused the spurious nobleman of having stolen from her a pair of earrings. |
a prisoner in irons who is being transported.
| Experiences of a Convict (1965) 52: We were Knights of the Iron Chain, all new arrivals being at once formally invested at the anvil by the high armourer, with a handsome though rusty set of irons, [...] to be worn on the right leg. |
(UK/US Und.) a burglar.
| Sheffield Indep. 1 June 8/1: His outfit showed him to be a professional knight of the jemmy. | |
| Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 12 Oct. n.p.: It is rather a difficult matter to determine whether ‘coppers’ have conscientious scruples [...] to pounce upon robust and heavily armed ‘knights of the jimmy’. | |
| Graphic (London) 16 Feb. 12/3: Two plain-clothes men had slyly concealed theselves in a doorway of a jeweller’s shop hoping to bag some knight of the jemmy. | |
| Morpeth Herald 25 Nov. 5/2: The ‘crib’ wherein this ‘knight of the jemmy’ has carried out his nefarious work is the Turk’s Head Hotel. | |
| Truth (Sydney) 8 Apr. 4/8: The gentlemen who follow the burgling business have apparently fallen on evil times [...] and another Knight of the Jemmy has been ‘retired’ for ten years. | |
| Daily Tel. 8 Aug. in (1909) 163/2: Some seasons ago the place was overrun by knights of the jemmy, who committed their depredations on other people’s property in the coolest manner possible. | |
| Aberdeen Jrnl 13 July 4/4: Between 11 and 12 o’clock on Thursday night a ‘knight of the jemmy’ was disturbed [...] by a railway employee. | |
| World of Living Dead (1969) 130: The Knight of the Jemmy and his comrade in arms, the safe blower, unperturbedly will shrug their shoulders. | |
| Man’s Grim Justice 6: He was a prowler, a house burglar, a knight of the jimmy and skeleton keys. |
a cutpurse.
| Bartholomew Fair II iii: Is this goodly person before us here, this ‘vapours’, a knight of the knife? |
a cobbler.
| Berks. Chron. 14 June 3/3: John Gibbs [...] knight of the lapstone [had] a charge preferred against him by [...] a constable. | |
| Instructions to Young Sportsmen (1844) 362: Johnny Tyrrell, our crack knight of the lapstone at Milford, has made me a pair of boots in this way. | |
| Leeds Times 18 Mar. 3/5: The knight of the lapstone evaded their vigilance, by making his exit. | |
| Sussex Advertiser 25 Sept. 6/6: This knight of the lapstone had become enamoured of Mrs Woodham’s cook. | |
| Hereford Jrnl 9 Nov. 6/2: He is graciously pleased to approve the movement, but he cannot, like the knight of the lapstone, stake his aw’l upon it. | |
| Exeter Flying Post 18 Apr. 4/1: To say nothing of the knight of the lapstone. | |
| Sl. and Its Analogues. |