white knight

English

Alternative forms

• white-knight, whiteknight (for verb only)

Noun

white knight (plural white knights)

1. (business) An individual or corporation that intends to acquire another company in order to avert a hostile takeover.

   Coordinate terms: black knight, grey knight

   • 2010 August 23, “Vale Denies It Is Potash's White Knight”, in NY Times DealBook‎^[1]:

     Forget about one possible white knight for Potash. Vale, the big Brazilian mining company, denied on Monday afternoon that it was in talks to acquire the giant Canadian fertilizer company.

2. (fiction) A hero, savior, or righteous individual.

   Antonym: black knight

3. (figurative, derogatory) Someone who unnecessarily defends someone else.
   • 2013 July 26, James Taranto, “A Strange Sort of Justice at West Point”, in The Wall Street Journal‎^[2]:

     After hearing her version of events, Lt. Wright assumed the role of white knight. He demanded that she file a formal complaint. She demurred, so the next day, over her objection, he alerted the academy.

   1. (informal, derogatory, Internet) A man who defends a woman in debate etc. in an attempt to gain her favour.

      Synonyms: doormat, simp

4. A mushroom of species Tricholoma album.
5. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see white,‎ knight.

   The white knight is attacking the pawn on e4.

Derived terms

• (psychology): white knight syndrome

Translations

individual or corporation that intends to acquire another company in order to avert a hostile takeover

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 白騎士 / 白骑士 (báiqíshì), 白武士 (báiwǔshì)

Hero

• Esperanto: blanka kavaliro
• French: chevalier blanc (fr) m
• German: weißer Ritter m
• Japanese: 白騎士 (shiro kishi)
• Russian: белый рыцарь (belyj rycarʹ)
• Spanish: caballero blanco
• Ukrainian: білий лицар (bilyj lycar)

Verb

white knight (third-person singular simple present white knights, present participle white knighting, simple past and past participle white knighted)

1. (figurative, derogatory) To unnecessarily defend someone, especially in an attempt to gain favour.

Translations

to unnecessarily defend someone

• Finnish: valkoritaroida

See also

• black knight
• knight in shining armor
• ♘

References

• John Smullen, Nicholas Hand, editors (2005), “white knight”, in A Dictionary of Finance and Banking, 3rd edition, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 430