Word Confusion: Knight versus Night

Plural for the noun: knights
Gerund: knighting

Third person present verb: knights
Past tense or past participle: knighted
Present participle: knighting

Plural for the noun: nights

• [In the Middle Ages] A man raised by a sovereign to honorable military rank after service as a page and squire
• [Literary] A man devoted to the service of a woman or a cause
• [Dated; in ancient Rome] A member of the class of equites
• [In ancient Greece] A citizen of the second class in Athens
• A member of any order or association that designates its members as knights

[Chess] A game piece, typically with its top shaped like a horse’s head, that moves by jumping to the opposite corner of a rectangle two squares by three

[Nautical] A short vertical timber having on its head a sheave through which running rigging is rove

• Any other fitting or erection bearing such a sheave

[In the UK] a man upon whom the nonhereditary dignity of knighthood is conferred by a sovereign because of personal merit or for services rendered to the country ²

Verb, transitive:
Invest or dub (someone) with the title of knight ¹

• Occurring, appearing, or seen at night
• Used or designed to be used at night
• Working at night
• Active at night

Exclamation:
[Informal] Short for good night

Noun:
The period of darkness in each twenty-four hours

The time from sunset to sunrise

• The night as the interval between two days
• The darkness of night
• [Literary] Nightfall

The period of time between afternoon and bedtime

An evening

• An evening appointed for some activity, or spent or regarded in a certain way

In Great Britain today, a knight holds the rank below that of a baronet, and the title Sir is prefixed to the Christian name, as in Sir John Smith.

Dame Laura, 1887–1970, was a British painter noted for her paintings of Gypsies, the ballet, and the circus.

I keep hoping my knight in shining armor will appear, sigh . . .

A knight on a white charger shall appear and defeat the dragon.

He’s a knight of the road, old son.

In ancient Rome, a knight, originally a member of the cavalry and later of a political and administrative class as well as of the equestrian order were drawn from the senatorial class and were called equites equo publico or horsemen whose mounts were provided for by the public (Encyclopædia Britannica).

When the knight is in the center of the board, it can move to 8 different squares.

Verb, transitive:
Paul McCartney was knighted by the queen.

I dub thee Sir Charles said the king as he knighted him on the battlefield.

He led the night raid.

Moonflowers are night bloomers.

If we take a night coach, we won’t waste the daylight hours.

The night entrance is manned by two guards.

I’m a night nurse, so it’s difficult to date.

John is on the night shift.

We can use the night depository at the bank.

The Aedes africanus mosquitoes are night feeders, preferentially taking blood meals from monkeys (Singh, 511).

Exclamation:
Night-night, honey.

Noun:
It was a moonless night and perfect for luring ships onto the rocks.

The office door is always locked at night.

A two-bedroom cabin costs $90 per night.

Somebody put him up for the night.

A line of watchfires stretched away into the night.

It was nightfall before she appeared.

He was not allowed to go out on weekday nights.

Wasn’t it a great night out?

She worked night and day until the work was done.

We might as well call it a night.

Burglars tend to work in the dead of night.

They were merely ships passing in the night.

1. Old English cniht meaning boy, youth, servant is related to the Dutch knecht and the German Knecht.
2. Dates from the mid-16th century