Idiom
knight of the post
Meaning
A known perjurer; a professional false witness.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“Do not trust him, he is a known knight of the post.”
“A knight of the post accepts money to tell lies in court.”
“The lawyer refused to call the man to the stand because he was a notorious knight of the post.”
“The corrupt businessman hired a knight of the post to lie about the contract during the police investigation.”
“You should check his history because he acts like a knight of the post who changes his story for profit.”
“The judge dismissed the testimony immediately, recognizing the witness as a common knight of the post who sold his lies to the highest bidder.”
Examples
simple
“Do not trust him, he is a known knight of the post.”
“A knight of the post accepts money to tell lies in court.”
contextual
“The lawyer refused to call the man to the stand because he was a notorious knight of the post.”
“The corrupt businessman hired a knight of the post to lie about the contract during the police investigation.”
“You should check his history because he acts like a knight of the post who changes his story for profit.”
complex
“The judge dismissed the testimony immediately, recognizing the witness as a common knight of the post who sold his lies to the highest bidder.”
Origin
The term arises from the suggestion that such a person would possess an intimate and recurring familiarity with the whipping-post or the pillory. These were the standard locations for the public administration of corporal punishment, and a knight of the post was one whose frequent appearances at these landmarks made the association unavoidable. It is a title conferred not by a monarch, but by the steady application of the law to one’s back.
Key words
Related idioms
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