What is "carpet knight"

Knight \Knight\, n. [OE. knight, cniht, knight, soldier, AS. cniht, cneoht, a boy, youth, attendant, military follower; akin to D. & G. knecht servant; perh. akin to E. kin.]

1. A young servant or follower; a military attendant. [Obs.]

2. 1. In feudal times, a man-at-arms serving on horseback and admitted to a certain military rank with special ceremonies, including an oath to protect the distressed, maintain the right, and live a stainless life.

   2. One on whom knighthood, a dignity next below that of baronet, is conferred by the sovereign, entitling him to be addressed as Sir; as, Sir John. [Eng.] Hence:

   3. A champion; a partisan; a lover. ``Give this ring to my true knight.'' Shak ``In all your quarrels will I be your knight.''
      --Tennyson.

      Knights, by their oaths, should right poor ladies' harms.
      --Shak.

      Note: Formerly, when a knight's name was not known, it was customary to address him as Sir Knight. The rank of a knight is not hereditary.

3. A piece used in the game of chess, usually bearing a horse's head.

4. A playing card bearing the figure of a knight; the knave or jack. [Obs.]

   Carpet knight. See under Carpet.

   Knight of industry. See Chevalier d'industrie, under Chevalier.

   Knight of Malta, Knight of Rhodes, Knight of St. John of Jerusalem. See Hospitaler.

   Knight of the post, one who gained his living by giving false evidence on trials, or false bail; hence, a sharper in general.
   --Nares. ``A knight of the post, . . . quoth he, for so I am termed; a fellow that will swear you anything for twelve pence.''
   --Nash.

   Knight of the shire, in England, one of the representatives of a county in Parliament, in distinction from the representatives of cities and boroughs.

   Knights commanders, Knights grand cross, different classes of the Order of the Bath. See under Bath, and Companion.

   Knights of labor, a secret organization whose professed purpose is to secure and maintain the rights of workingmen as respects their relations to their employers. [U. S.]

   Knights of Pythias, a secret order, founded in Washington, D. C., in 1864, for social and charitable purposes.

   Knights of the Round Table, knights belonging to an order which, according to the legendary accounts, was instituted by the mythical King Arthur. They derived their common title from the table around which they sat on certain solemn days.
   --Brande & C.

Carpet \Car"pet\ (k[aum]r"p[e^]t), n. [OF. carpite rug, soft of cloth, F. carpette coarse packing cloth, rug (cf. It. carpita rug, blanket), LL. carpeta, carpita, woolly cloths, fr. L. carpere to pluck, to card (wool); cf. Gr. karpo`s fruit, E. Harvest.]

1. A heavy woven or felted fabric, usually of wool, but also of cotton, hemp, straw, etc.; esp. a floor covering made in breadths to be sewed together and nailed to the floor, as distinguished from a rug or mat; originally, also, a wrought cover for tables.

   Tables and beds covered with copes instead of carpets and coverlets.
   --T. Fuller.

2. A smooth soft covering resembling or suggesting a carpet. ``The grassy carpet of this plain.'' --Shak. Carpet beetle or Carpet bug (Zo["o]l.), a small beetle ( Anthrenus scrophulari[ae]), which, in the larval state, does great damage to carpets and other woolen goods; -- also called buffalo bug. Carpet knight.

   1. A knight who enjoys ease and security, or luxury, and has not known the hardships of the field; a hero of the drawing room; an effeminate person.
      --Shak.

   2. One made a knight, for some other than military distinction or service.

      Carpet moth (Zo["o]l.), the larva of an insect which feeds on carpets and other woolen goods. There are several kinds. Some are the larv[ae] of species of Tinea (as Tinea tapetzella); others of beetles, esp. Anthrenus.

      Carpet snake (Zo["o]l.), an Australian snake. See Diamond snake, under Diamond.

      Carpet sweeper, an apparatus or device for sweeping carpets.

      To be on the carpet, to be under consideration; to be the subject of deliberation; to be in sight; -- an expression derived from the use of carpets as table cover.

      Brussels carpet. See under Brussels.

n. 1 A knight who enjoys ease and security, or luxury, and has not known the hardships of the field. 2 One made a knight for some reason other than military distinction or service.

n. a knight who spends his time in luxury and idleness (knighted on the carpet at court rather than on the field of battle)