Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- Canute Known as "the Great.” 994?-1035. King of England (1016-1035), Denmark (1018-1035), and Norway (1028-1035) whose reign, at first brutal, was later marked by wisdom and temperance. He is the subject of many legends.
Wiktionary
- n. historical A male given name used in England from the eleventh to the thirteenth century.
- n. Canute the Great, king of England, Denmark and Norway.
WordNet 3.0
- n. king of Denmark and Norway who forced Edmund II to divide England with him; on the death of Edmund II, Canute became king of all England (994-1035)
Etymologies
- From Old Norse Knútr, possibly originally a byname meaning "knot". (Wiktionary)
Examples
“CANUTE - Tales of gold, silver and an old Mexican mining town on the banks of Turkey Creek have tugged at Elva Johnson first stirred her son's imagination on the subject while chopping cotton at a patch nestled against Turkey Creek outside Canute more than 50 years ago.”
“He said in English, "Canute's page, by the Saints!”
“Sweyn -- the renegade from that Christian Faith which had been forced on him by his German conqueror, the Emperor Otto II. -- with his illustrious son Cnut, whom we call Canute, were just calling together all the most daring spirits of the Baltic coasts for the subjugation of England; and when that great feat was performed, the Scandinavian emigration was paralysed, probably, for a time by the fearful wars at home.”
“To satirize the sycophants among his courtiers, King Canute sarcastically commanded the waves to keep their distance and allowed his own majesty to be wetted by the tides: now we give the name Canute to anyone in authority who foolishly attempts to ward off the inevitable.”
“Olauus to be their king, and the Danes chose this Hardiknought, whome their writers name Canute the third, to be their gouernor.”
Chronicles (1 of 6): The Historie of England (7 of 8) The Seventh Boke of the Historie of England
“King Knut, whom men call Canute, whom the Ocean-tide would not be forbidden to wet, -- we heard already of this wise King, with his crown and gifts; but of many others, Kings, Queens, wise men and noble loyal women, let Dryasdust and divine Silence be the record!”
Past and Present Thomas Carlyle's Collected Works, Vol. XIII.
“It is often used about politicians who consider themselves so powerful they can stop the tide of something, such as rising wages - as arrogant as King Canute," says Prof Keynes, who says he used to collect examples from the newspapers of those so-called Canute moments.”
“He here suborned some nobles to depose that, in the treaty of Glocester it had been verbally agreed, either to name Canute, in case of Edmond's death, successor to his dominions, or tutor to hit children, (for historians vary in this particular;) and that evidence, supported by the great power of Canute, determined the states immediately to put the Danish monarch in possession of the government.”
“Sisyphus - I think you have over looked the fact that a decision has already been made to move towards a policy of 'managed decline' since we cannot turn the sea back 'Canute' like.”
“-- The realm of Custom had already long been curtailed by the conquests of Law when Saxo wrote, and some epochs of the invasion were well remembered, such as Canute's laws.”
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