royalty

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A person of royal rank or lineage.
• noun Monarchs and their families considered as a group.
• noun The lineage or rank of a monarch.
• noun The power, status, or authority of a monarch.
• noun Royal quality or bearing.
• noun A kingdom or possession ruled by a monarch.
• noun A right or prerogative of the crown, as that of receiving a percentage of the proceeds from mines in the royal domain.
• noun The granting of a right by a monarch to a corporation or an individual to exploit specified natural resources.
• noun The payment for such a right.
• noun A share paid to a writer or composer out of the proceeds resulting from the sale or performance of his or her work.
• noun A share in the proceeds paid to an inventor or a proprietor for the right to use his or her invention or services.
• noun A share of the profit or product reserved by the grantor, especially of an oil or mining lease.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The state or condition of being royal; royal rank or extraction; existence as or derivation from a king or a royal personage.
• noun Royal personality; concretely, a royal personage, or member of a royal family; collectively, an aggregate or assemblage of royal persons: as, royalty absented itself; discrowned royalties.
• noun Royal authority; sovereign state; kingly rule or majesty; kingship, either as an attribute or as a principle.
• noun The character of being kingly, or proper to a king; royal quality, literally or figuratively; kingliness.
• noun That which pertains or is proper to a king or sovereign; a sovereign right or attribute; regal dominion or prerogative; a manifestation or an emblem of kingship.
• noun A royal domain; a manor or possession belonging to the crown.
• noun A royal due or perquisite; especially, a seigniorage due to a king from a manor of which he is lord; a tax paid to the crown, or to a superior as representing the crown, as on the produce of a royal mine.
• noun Hence A compensation paid to one who holds a patent for the use of the patent, or for the right to act under it, generally at a certain rate for each article manufactured.
• noun A proportional payment made on sales, as to an author or an inventor for each copy of a work or for each article sold.
• noun In Scotland, the area occupied by a royal burgh, or (in the plural) the bounds of a royal burgh.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun The state of being royal; the condition or quality of a royal person; kingship; kingly office; sovereignty.
• noun The person of a king or sovereign; majesty.
• noun obsolete An emblem of royalty; -- usually in the plural, meaning regalia.
• noun Kingliness; spirit of regal authority.
• noun Domain; province; sphere.
• noun That which is due to a sovereign, as a seigniorage on gold and silver coined at the mint, metals taken from mines, etc.; the tax exacted in lieu of such share; imperiality.
• noun A share of the product or profit (as of a mine, forest, etc.), reserved by the owner for permitting another to use the property.
• noun Hence (Com.), a duty paid by a manufacturer to the owner of a patent or a copyright at a certain rate for each article manufactured; or, a percentage paid to the owner of an article by one who hires the use of it.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun The rank, status, power or authority of a monarch.
• noun People of royal rank, plus their families, treated as a group.
• noun A royal right or prerogative, such as the exploitation of a natural resource; the granting of such a right; payment received for such a right
• noun The payment received by an owner of real property for exploitation of mineral rights on his property.
• noun by extension payment made to a writer, composer, inventor etc for the sale or use of intellectual property, invention etc.
• noun poker, slang A king and a queen as a starting hand in Texas hold 'em

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun payment to the holder of a patent or copyright or resource for the right to use their property
• noun royal persons collectively