From the Latin *ad* and *collum*, meaning around the neck. Generally but incorrectly it is supposed that the accolade means the blow given on the neck of a newly created knight with the flat of the sword. The best authorities define it to be the embrace, or a slight blow on the cheek or shoulder, accompanied with the kiss of peace, by which the new knight was at his creation welcomed into the Order of Knighthood by the sovereign or lord who created him (see Knighthood).