ˈknight-ˈerrant
Pl. knights-errant. In 7 erron. -errand.
[See errant a. 1.]
1. A knight of mediæval romance who wandered in search of adventures and opportunities for deeds of bravery and chivalry.
| 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 810 He calde, & sone þer com A porter..& haylsed þe knyȝt erraunt. a 1440 Sir Degrev. 1311 Ȝondur ys a knyȝthe erraunt. 1612 Shelton Quix. i. (1652) 2 The Knight-Errant that is lovelesse, resembles..a body without a soul. 1641 Brome Joviall Crew iii. Wks. 1873 III. 394 Never did Knight Errants..merit more of their Ladies. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 540 ¶4 In Fairy-land, where knights-errant have a full scope to range. 1713 Berkeley Guard. No. 83 ¶5 From what giants and monsters would these knight-errants undertake to free the world? 1847 Prescott Peru (1850) II. 224 A cavalier, in whose bosom burned the adventurous spirit of a knight-errant of romance. |
| attrib. 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) I. 668 This knight-errant humour of seeking adventures and perilous encounters. 1868 W. Cory Lett. & Jrnls. (1897) 223 The armies which resisted Bonaparte, and made us the knight-errant nation. |
2. transf. One compared to a knight-errant in respect of a chivalrous or adventurous spirit. Sometimes used in ridicule, with allusion to the character or action of Don Quixote.
| [1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, v. iv. 24 Come, come, you shee-knight-arrant, come.] 1751 Earl of Orrery Remarks Swift (1752) 115 Descartes was a knight errant in philosophy, perpetually mistaking windmills for giants. a 1857 R. A. Vaughan Essays & Rem. (1858) I. 38 Reason was the knight-errant of speculation. |
Hence
knight-ˈerranting gerund or pres. pple., playing the part of a knight-errant.
| 1860 Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. III. cvii. 21 You are not to go out knight-erranting in all corners of the town. |