Dictionary

kempery-man en · NOUN

Etymology

From kemp (“to contend, struggle, compete”) + -er, and Old English man.

Meanings

1. A mediaeval knight-errant or champion.
   • The Gaelic military force, whose status is well expressed in ancient ballads by the designation of "the Kempery men" or men of the camp, were, with their taoiseach, or leader, supported throughout the country by the creaghts. 1856, “Ancient Irish Income”, in Ulster Journal of Archaeology, volume 4, pages 241-52:
   • What is known as his Utengi is a kind of battle-chant, extolling his own prowess and taunting his enemies, quite in the fashion of a Norse kempery-man. 1928, “Native Poetry in East Africa”, in Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, volume 1, number 3, pages 348-57:
   • I only want an excuse like that for turning kempery-man — knight-errant, as those Norman puppies call it, — like Regnar Lodbrog, or Frithiof, or Harold Hardraade. 1866, Charles Kingsley, chapter 1, in Hereward the Wake, London: Nelson:

Forms

Relateds

kemper