king

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A male sovereign.
2. n. One that is supreme or preeminent in a particular group, category, or sphere.
3. n. The perfect, omniscient, omnipotent being; God.
4. n. Christianity Jesus.
5. n. Games A playing card bearing the figure of a king, ranking above a queen.
6. n. Games The principal chess piece, which can move one square in any direction and must be protected against checkmate.
7. n. Games A piece in checkers that has been moved to the last row on the opponent's side of the board and been crowned, thus becoming free to move both forward and backward.
8. n. See Table at Bible.
9. adj. Principal or chief, as in size or importance.
10. v. Games To make (a piece in checkers) into a king; crown.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A chief ruler; a reigning sovereign or monarch; a man who holds by life tenure the chief authority over a country and people. The word is used both as a generic designation or any sovereign ruler and as the specific title of the rulers of certain states distinctively called kingdoms. It is applicable by extension to an infant who has become heir to the sovereign power, and reigns through a regent. King, originally applied to any tribal chief, whether such by hereditary, elective, or military right, took on a more imposing sense with the rise of the modern European states; but it is still used historically. or with a modern imputation or suggestion of royal splendor, with reference to many ancient and modern barbarian or savage tribes, as the ancient Canaanite kings, the Mongol kings of Asia, the ancient kings of Ireland, the kings of central Africa, the American Indian King Powhatan and King Philip, etc. The autocratic or despotic power formerly implied by the title king has been almost ost in Europe, where a king is now merely a chief magistrate for life, bound by constitutional and statutory limitations equally with his subjects. The office of king is now, as a rule, hereditary in principle; but in former times it was often elective, or in some manner the subject of choice or selection. In the generic sense, God is often called King, as the supreme ruler of the universe. Abbreviated K.
2. n. One who or that which is chief or greatest in any respect; a holder of preëminent rank or power of any kind: as, a king of good fellows; the lion is called the king of beasts.
3. n. In games: A playing-card bearing a picture of a king: as, the king of diamonds.
4. n. The chief piece in the game of chess. See chess
5. n. A crowned man in the game of draughts.
6. n. See the quotation.
7. n. plural [capitalized] The eleventh and twelfth books of the Bible. In Hebrew manuscripts they are undivided, and form a continuous narrative of the Hebrew people from the later days of King David to the captivity of Judah in Babylon. The division into two books was first made in the Septuagint and retained in the Vulgate, in both of which they are named the third and fourth books of Kings (the two books of Samuel being the first and second); hence, in the English Bible, the double title “The first book of the Kings, commonly called the third book of the Kings,” etc. The period embraces the reigns of all the kings of Israel and Judah, except Saul's and most of David's. The work was probably composed substantially before the end of the captivity. The authorship is uncertain.
8. n. A red-finned herring.
9. n. The Chimæramonstrosa. [Local, Scotch (Shetland).]
10. To supply with a king.
11. To make royal; raise to royalty.
12. To perform the part of king; act the king: with an indefinite it.
13. n. The collective name in China for the books edited or compiled by Confucius, and forming with the Four Books (see analect) the classics of the country.
14. n. In Chinese translations of Buddhist Scriptures, the equivalent of sutra (which see).
15. n. A Chinese musical instrument, of very ancient origin, consisting of sixteen suspended stones or metallic plates of graduated size, which are sounded by blows of a metal or wooden hammer.
16. n. The male of a termite or white ant.
17. n. The perfect female bee. The queen bee was formerly known by this name. Also king bee.

Wiktionary

1. n. A male monarch; a man who heads a monarchy. If it's an absolute monarchy, then he is the supreme ruler of his nation.
2. n. A powerful or influential person.
3. n. Something that has a preeminent position.
4. n. A component of certain games.
5. n. UK, slang A king skin.
6. v. To crown king, to make (a person) king.
7. v. To rule over as king.
8. v. To perform the duties of a king.
9. v. To assume or pretend preeminence (over); to lord it over.
10. v. To promote a piece of draughts/checkers that has traversed the board to the opposite side, that piece subsequently being permitted to move backwards as well as forwards.
11. v. To dress and perform as a drag king.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A Chinese musical instrument, consisting of resonant stones or metal plates, arranged according to their tones in a frame of wood, and struck with a hammer.
2. n. A chief ruler; a sovereign; one invested with supreme authority over a nation, country, or tribe, usually by hereditary succession; a monarch; a prince.
3. n. One who, or that which, holds a supreme position or rank; a chief among competitors
4. n. A playing card having the picture of a king{1}.
5. n. The chief piece in the game of chess.
6. n. A crowned man in the game of draughts.
7. n. The title of two historical books in the Old Testament.
8. v. rare To supply with a king; to make a king of; to raise to royalty.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. preeminence in a particular category or group or field
2. n. a checker that has been moved to the opponent's first row where it is promoted to a piece that is free to move either forward or backward
3. n. (chess) the weakest but the most important piece
4. n. a competitor who holds a preeminent position
5. n. a very wealthy or powerful businessman
6. n. one of the four playing cards in a deck bearing the picture of a king
7. n. United States charismatic civil rights leader and Baptist minister who campaigned against the segregation of Blacks (1929-1968)
8. n. a male sovereign; ruler of a kingdom
9. n. United States guitar player and singer of the blues (born in 1925)
10. n. United States woman tennis player (born in 1943)