monarch

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. One who reigns over a state or territory, usually for life and by hereditary right, especially:
2. n. A sole and absolute ruler.
3. n. A sovereign, such as a king or empress, often with constitutionally limited authority: a constitutional monarch.
4. n. One that commands or rules: "I am monarch of all I survey” ( William Cowper).
5. n. One that surpasses others in power or preeminence: "Mont Blanc is the monarch of the mountains” ( Byron).
6. n. A monarch butterfly.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The chief of a monarchy; a supreme governor for life, entitled variously emperor (or empress), king (or queen), czar (or czarina), sultan, shah, etc.; primarily, a sole or autocratic ruler of a state, but in modern times generally a hereditary sovereign with more or less limited powers. See monarchy.
2. n. Any possessor of absolute power or superiority; one who or that which holds a dominating or preëminent position, literally or figuratively: as, the oak is the monarch of the forest.
3. n. Synonyms King, etc. (see prince), potentate, autocrat, despot.

Wiktionary

1. n. The ruler of an absolute monarchy or the head of state of a constitutional monarchy.
2. n. The monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus, found in North America, so called because of the designs on its wings.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A sole or supreme ruler; a sovereign; the highest ruler; an emperor, king, queen, prince, or chief.
2. n. One superior to all others of the same kind.
3. n. A patron deity or presiding genius.
4. n. (Zoöl.) A very large red and black butterfly (Danais Plexippus); -- called also milkweed butterfly and monarch butterfly.
5. adj. Superior to others; preëminent; supreme; ruling.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. large migratory American butterfly having deep orange wings with black and white markings; the larvae feed on milkweed
2. n. a nation's ruler or head of state usually by hereditary right