Meaning
A person, usually a man, who heroically rescues or champions someone in trouble, especially one who turns up unexpectedly and sorts everything out. Frequently used ironically of a rescuer who never materialises. The British spelling is armour and the American armor; both varieties use the phrase freely. Often ironic or wistful in modern use and mildly cliched, with lingering romance-novel connotations. Regional use: General English.
Origin
The image of the polished-armoured knight is medieval, but the wording in print is surprisingly recent. The Phrase Finder traces the earliest known printing to a 1790 poem by Henry Pye in The Monthly Review ('No more the knight, in shining armour dress'd...'), which still refers to literal armour. Figurative use grew through the nineteenth century, with an early American example in the Kenosha Times of 1857 describing a reputation protected 'as by a shining armor'. The damsel-rescuing associations owe much to Victorian novelists and painters enchanted by an idealised Camelot, a picture historians regard as dubious; royal and high-noble armour genuinely was polished and did gleam, but the swooning-maiden scenes were largely romantic invention rather than record.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- knight in shining armor
- knight on a white charger
- white knight
Usage Examples
- When the boiler burst at midnight, our plumber arrived like a knight in shining armour and had it working by morning.
- She has spent three years rescuing that firm like a knight in shining armour, and the board has never once thanked her.
- You cannot sit about waiting for some knight in shining armour; the pension paperwork has to be filed yourself.