knight-errantryn.
/ˌnʌɪtˈɛrəntri/, /ˌnʌɪtˈɛrn̩tri/, U.S. /ˌnaɪdˈɛrəntri/ 1. The practice of a knight-errant; the action of knights who wandered in search of adventures.
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society > society and the community > social class > nobility > rank > knight > [noun] > who sits at the Round Table > knight errant > practice of
knight-errantry1654
1654 E. Gayton Pleasant Notes Don Quixot i. iii. 9 This order of Knight errantry is very ancient; when there were but three persons in the World, one was of this order, even Cain.
1764 T. Reid Inq. Human Mind I. Ded. 95 If all belief could be laid aside, piety, friendship, &c., would appear as ridiculous as knighterrantry.
1818 W. Scott Chivalry in Encycl. Brit.: Suppl. to 4th–6th Eds. III. i. 118/2 They achieved deeds of valour..only recorded in the annals of knight-errantry.
1860 G. J. Adler tr. C. C. Fauriel Hist. Provençal Poetry xv. 342 In the poetical monuments of Southern France I find the most ancient indications of knight-errantry.
2. Conduct resembling that of a knight-errant; readiness to engage in romantic adventure. Often depreciative: Quixotic behavior.
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the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > faculty of conceiving ideals > tendency towards romance > romantic conduct > [noun]
quixotism1620
windmill1645
errantry1654
knight-errantry1660
quixotry1703
Don 'Quixotism1719
romance1745
quixoticism1850
1660 R. Allestree Gentlemans Calling 109 But to anticipate the Proposal, to go in quest of such Opportunities, looks with them like a piece of Knight-errantry.
1711 R. Steele Spectator No. 168. ⁋5 It is a noble Piece of Knight-Errantry to enter the Lists against so many armed Pedagogues.
1853 J. G. Whittier Prose Wks. (1889) II. 427 That spiritual knight-errantry which undertakes the championship of every novel project of reform.
1855 D. Brewster Mem. Life I. Newton (new ed.) II. xv. 73 The charge of knight errantry which Newton had made against Leibnitz..for challenging the English to the solution of mathematical problems.
3. The body of knight-errants. rare.
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society > society and the community > social class > nobility > rank > knight > [noun] > who sits at the Round Table > knight errant > body of knights errant
knighthood-errant1859
knight-errantry1860
1860 C. Sangster Hesperus 35 He, Prince of Love's knight-errantry.
1872 Ld. Tennyson Gareth & Lynette 40 That old knight-errantry Who ride abroad and do but what they will.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1901; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1654