knight [OE] To Anglo-Saxons cnicht meant ‘boy, youth, or servant’, but in medieval times this developed into a name for a man of honourable military rank. Knights in traditional stories are rescuers of people in danger or distress, giving us a knight in shining armour [M20th]. A white knight was used from the early 16th century in the same sense, but in stock exchange language since the 1970s is a person or company that makes an acceptable counter-offer for a company facing a hostile takeover bid from a black knight, also 1970s. A 17th-century highwayman might be called ironically a knight of the road. The phrase has survived into the modern language as a jokey term for someone like a sales representative or a lorry driver who habitually travels the roads. See also damsel, err, esquire, page.