rare. [f. KNIGHT sb. + -ESS1.] a. A woman who fights like a knight. b. A female member of a knightly order. c. The wife of a knight.
a. 1553. Udall, Royster D., IV. viii. (Arb.), 78. Too it againe, my knightesses, downe with them all.
1693. trans. Emilianne’s Hist. Monast. Ord., II. ii. 238. The Order of the Nuns Knightesses, Sword-bearers of St. James in Spain.
1843. Mirror, II. 161/2. There is reason to believe that as well as Knights there were knight-esses, or ladies, of that order.
1845. Disraeli, Sybil, II. ii. I. 114. The ‘honourable baronetess’ … or the ‘honourable knightess.’
