royal

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. adj. Of or relating to a monarch.
2. adj. Of the rank of a monarch.
3. adj. Of, relating to, or in the service of a kingdom.
4. adj. Issued or performed by a monarch: a royal warrant; a royal visit.
5. adj. Founded, chartered, or authorized by a monarch: a royal society of musicians.
6. adj. Befitting royalty; stately: royal treatment.
7. adj. Superior, as in size or quality.
8. adj. Used as an intensive: "It would be a first-class royal mess” ( Sam Nunn).
9. n. Informal A member of a monarch's family: "Among the resort's distinguished visitors are Swedish and Spanish royals” ( Alistair Scott).
10. n. Nautical A sail set on the royalmast.
11. n. A paper size, 20 by 25 inches for printing, 19 by 24 inches for writing.
12. idiom. the royal road A way or method that presents no difficulties: the royal road to success.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. Of or pertaining to a king; derived from or cognate to a king; belonging to or connected with the crown of a kingdom; regal; as, the royal family; a royal prince; royal domains; a royal palace.
2. Pertaining or relating to the sovereign power of a king; acting under, derived from, or dependent upon regal authority, aid, or patronage: as, a royal parliament or government; the royal army or navy; royal purveyors. Royal enters into the names of many literary, scientific, artistic, and other associations in monarchical countries, implying their existence under royal charter or patronage: e. g., the Royal Academy of Arts in London, whose members are distinguished by the title R. A. (Royal Academician), and the associate members by the title A. R. A.; the Royal Institution of London, for the promotion of and instruction in scientific and technical knowledge; the Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge (usually designated specifically the Royal Society), which takes charge of many scientific matters with which the government is concerned, and whose members or fellows are styled F. R. S.; the Royal Societies of Edinburgh and of Dublin, the Royal Antiquarian, Asiatic, Astronomical, and Geographical Societies, etc.
3. Of kingly character or quality; proper for or suitable to kingship; ideally like or characteristic of a king or royalty; royally eminent, excellent, or the like: used either literally or figuratively: as, royal state or magnificence; he proved a royal friend; a right royal welcome.
4. Large or superior of its kind; of more than ordinary size, excellence, or the like: used as a specific qualification, as in royal quarto or royal octavo in printing, a royal antler or stag, etc., or as an assertion of superiority for that to which it is applied, as in the names of some articles of trade.
5. The bay-laurel, Laurus nobilis.
6. A merchant who managed the mercantile affairs of or purveyed for a sovereign or state.
7. [caps.] Another name for the constellation Robur Caroli.
8. Synonyms Royal, Regal, Kingly. Regal is applicable primarily to what pertains to a king in virtue of his office, and hence to what is proper to or suggestive of a king, and as now frequently used is nearly synonymous with princely, magnificent: as, regal state or pomp; regal power. Royal notes what pertains to the king as an individual, or is associated with his person: as, his royal highness (applied to a prince of the blood); the royal family; the royal presence; the royal robes; a royal salute. It does not, like regal, necessarily imply magnificence. Thus, a royal residence may not be regal in its character, while on the other hand any magnificent mansion belonging to a subject may be described as regal, though it is not royal. The sway of a great Highland chief of old was regal, but not royal. Hence, in figurative use, royal is applied to qualities, actions, or things which are conceived of as superlatively great, noble, or admirable in themselves, or as worthy of a king: as, a royal disposition, royal virtues, a royal entertainment, etc.; regal, to those which make an impression of the highest grandeur, stateliness, ascendancy, or the like: as, a regal bearing, regal munificence, regal commands, etc. Kingly seems to be intermediate. It signifies literally like a king, hence proper to or befitting a king, and in its more general use resembling or suggestive of a king. Like royal, it has reference to personal qualities: as, a kingly bearing, presence, disposition, and the like; while, like regal, it is not restricted to the monarch or members of his house.
9. Imperial, august, majestic, superb, splendid, magnificent, illustrious.
10. n. . A royal person; a member of a royal family; a king or prince.
11. n. . A gold coin formerly current in England: same as ryal.
12. n. Nautical, a small square sail, usually the highest on a ship, carried on the royalmast only in a light breeze.
13. n. One of the tines of a stag's antlers; an antler royal, or royal antler. See antler, 3.
14. n. A stag which has the antler royal.
15. n. In artillery, a small mortar.
16. n. That part of the beard which grows below the under lip and above the point of the chin, especially when the beard around it is shaved. This with the mustache has long formed the trim of the beard most in favor for military men, etc., on the continent of Europe. The term royal prevailed until the second French empire, when the name imperial was given to it, as it was worn by Napoleon III.
17. n. A writing-paper of the size 19 X 24 inches; also, a printing-paper of the size 20 X 25 inches. A royal folio has a leaf about 12 X 20 inches; a royal quarto is about 10 X 12½ inches; a royal octavo, about 6¼ X 10 inches.
18. n. A name sometimes given to other regiments in whose title the word royal occurs: as, the King's Royal Rifle Corps; the Royal Scots Fusiliers, etc.

Wiktionary

1. adj. Of or relating to a monarch or their family.
2. adj. Having the air or demeanour of a monarch.
3. adj. In large sailing ships, of a mast right above the topgallant mast and its sails.
4. adj. free-for-all, especially involving multiple combatants.
5. adj. major
6. n. A royal person; a member of a royal family.
7. n. A standard printing-paper size measuring 25 inches x 20 inches.
8. n. former name for the Australian decimal currency (later term).
9. n. the fourth tine of an antler's beam
10. n. in large sailing ships, square sail over the topgallant sail

GNU Webster's 1913

1. adj. Kingly; pertaining to the crown or the sovereign; suitable for a king or queen; regal.
2. adj. Noble; generous; magnificent; princely.
3. adj. Under the patronage of royality; holding a charter granted by the sovereign.
4. n. Printing and writing papers of particular sizes. See under paper, n.
5. n. A small sail immediately above the topgallant sail.
6. n. One of the upper or distal branches of an antler, as the third and fourth tynes of the antlers of a stag.
7. n. A small mortar.
8. n. One of the soldiers of the first regiment of foot of the British army, formerly called the Royals, and supposed to be the oldest regular corps in Europe; -- now called the Royal Scots.
9. n. An old English coin. See Rial.
10. n. A royal spade.

WordNet 3.0

1. adj. established or chartered or authorized by royalty
2. adj. belonging to or befitting a supreme ruler
3. adj. being of the rank of a monarch
4. adj. of or relating to or indicative of or issued or performed by a king or queen or other monarch
5. n. a sail set next above the topgallant on a royal mast
6. n. stag with antlers of 12 or more branches
7. adj. invested with royal power as symbolized by a crown