knave
Other forms: knaves
You don't hear about knaves much these days: it's an older word for a rascal, a scoundrel, or a rogue. It isn't a compliment.
If you read Shakespeare for long, you'll definitely see the word knave more than once. In Shakespeare, an important person like a king or a prince might call a thief a knave. Knaves always tend to be up to trouble. You don't want to trust a knave; knaves lie, deceive, and betray. Today, we might call a knave a "scoundrel" or a "good-for-nothing."
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a deceitful and unreliable scoundrel
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one of four face cards in a deck bearing a picture of a young princesynonyms: jack
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Vocabulary lists containing knave
Sparks fly when Romeo and Juliet first meet, but their families are sworn enemies locked in an ancient feud. Learn these words from Shakespeare's classic tale of star-crossed love.
Here are links to our lists for the play: Act I, Act II, Act III, Act IV, Act V Here are links to other plays by William Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, Hamlet, King Lear, Julius Caesar, Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night, Measure for Measure, Othello, A Midsummer Night's Dream
Brutus is a trusted confidant of the Roman general Julius Caesar, but when he becomes convinced that Caesar's ambitions are a threat to the republic, he plots his friend's assassination.