an old Saxon word, which had at first a sense of simplicity and innocence, for it signified a boy: Sax. cnapa, whence a knave-child, i.e., a boy, distinguished from a girl, in several old writers; afterwards it was taken for a servant-boy, and at length for any servant-man. Also it was applied to a minister or officer that bore the shield or weapon of his superior; as field-knapa, whom the Latins call armiger, and the French efuyer, 14 Edw. III. c. 3. And it was sometimes of old made use of as a titular addition; as Joannes C. filius Willielmi C. de Derby, knave, &c. 22 Hen.VII. c. 37. The word is now perverted to the hardest meaning, viz. a false deceitful fellow.