Definition
A known perjurer; a professional false witness.
Origins
Suggesting that such a person would be familiar with the whipping-post or pillory.
In Context
- "A knight of the post […] quoth he, for so I am termed; a fellow that will swear you anything for twelve pence."
- "[…] But with more lucky hit than those That use to make the stars depose, Like knights o' th' post, and falsely charge Upon themselves what others forge; As if they were consenting to All mischief in the world men do […]"
- "[T]he fugitive had been cajoled by a certain knight of the post, who undertook to manage the thousand pounds in such a manner, as would, in a very little time, make him perfectly independent […]."