Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun An unprincipled, crafty fellow.
- noun A male servant.
- noun A man of humble birth.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To prove or make a knave.
- noun A boy; a boy as a servant; a servant; a fellow.
- noun A friend; a crony: used as a term of endearment.
- noun A false, deceitful fellow; a dishonest person; one given to fraudulent tricks or practices; a rogue or scoundrel.
- noun A playing-card with a servant (usually, in English and American cards, in a conventionalized costume of the sixteenth century) figured on it; a jack.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun obsolete A boy; especially, a boy servant.
- noun obsolete Any male servant; a menial.
- noun A tricky, deceitful fellow; a dishonest person; a rogue; a villain.
- noun A playing card marked with the figure of a servant or soldier; a jack.
- noun [Obs.] a male child.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun archaic A
boy ; especially, a boyservant . - noun archaic Any male
servant ; amenial . - noun A tricky, deceitful fellow; a dishonest person; a
rogue ; avillain . - noun card games A
playing card marked with the figure of a servant or soldier; ajack .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun one of four face cards in a deck bearing a picture of a young prince
- noun a deceitful and unreliable scoundrel
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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I am but a fool, look you; and yet I have the wit to think my master is a kind of a knave: but that's all one, if he be but one knave] [W: but one kind] This alteration is acute and specious, yet I know not whether, in Shakespeare's language, _one knave_ may not signify a _knave on only one occasion_,
Notes to Shakespeare — Volume 01: Comedies Samuel Johnson 1746
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"Romeo and Juliet," the chorus narrates, "His name was Geoffrey Lebowski called yet/Not called, excepting by his kin/That which we call a knave by any other name/Might bowl just as sweet."
Washington Square News Stelios Phili 2010
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"Romeo and Juliet," the chorus narrates, "His name was Geoffrey Lebowski called yet/Not called, excepting by his kin/That which we call a knave by any other name/Might bowl just as sweet."
Washington Square News Stelios Phili 2010
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"Romeo and Juliet," the chorus narrates, "His name was Geoffrey Lebowski called yet/Not called, excepting by his kin/That which we call a knave by any other name/Might bowl just as sweet."
Washington Square News Stelios Phili 2010
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A tattered knave arrived at this dressing-room, deposited his thirty sous and selected, according to the part which he wished to play, the costume which suited him, and on descending the stairs once more, the knave was a somebody.
Les Miserables 2008
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St. Honore, at Paris, sat a man ALONE — a man who has been maligned, a man who has been called a knave and charlatan, a man who has been persecuted even to the death, it is said, in Roman
Roundabout Papers 2006
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That was somewhat away from the most precious part of the church, the knave, which is built over the grotto where Jesus is said to have been born.
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For the king is unwise, so are his knights, and a knave is his brother, the one as the other; therefore may Britons be much the un-bolder, when the head (leader) is bad, the heap
Roman de Brut. English Layamon
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Turning to the bewildered old man, he continues: "to be called a knave, and upbraided in this manner by your daughter, when I have befriended you all these days!"
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For any man to profess to be governed by the fixed principles of justice, of honor, of truth, or of generosity, is sufficient to stamp him a hypocrite and a designing knave, that is lying in wait under these characters for the happiness of others.
History of the University of North Carolina. Volume I: From its Beginning to the Death of President Swain, 1789-1868 Kemp Plummer 1907
brtom commented on the word knave
I know him to be artful, selfish, and malicious—in short, a sentimental knave
Sheridan, School for Scandal
January 5, 2008
milosrdenstvi commented on the word knave
"Silence, knave!"
August 14, 2008