Definition of "chivalry" []

• The medieval system, principles, and customs of knighthood. (noun)
• The qualities idealized by knighthood, such as bravery, courtesy, honor, and gallantry toward women. (noun)
• A manifestation of any of these qualities. (noun)
• A group of knights or gallant gentlemen. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "This people — I mean the more lofty-minded of these crusaders, who act up to the pretences of the doctrines which they call chivalry — despise the thirst of gold, and gold itself, unless to hilt their swords, or to furnish forth some necessary expenses, as alike useless and contemptible."
• "It was also a vehicle for that element which we call chivalry, which the church infused into it to fashion and mould the rude soldiers of feudal times into Christian knights, and, as it"
• "This people -- I mean the more lofty-minded of these crusaders, who act up to the pretences of the doctrines which they call chivalry -- despise the thirst of gold, and gold itself, unless to hilt their swords, or to furnish forth some necessary expenses, as alike useless and contemptible."