sovereign

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. One that exercises supreme, permanent authority, especially in a nation or other governmental unit, as:
2. n. A king, queen, or other noble person who serves as chief of state; a ruler or monarch.
3. n. A national governing council or committee.
4. n. A nation that governs territory outside its borders.
5. n. A gold coin formerly used in Great Britain.
6. adj. Self-governing; independent: a sovereign state.
7. adj. Having supreme rank or power: a sovereign prince.
8. adj. Paramount; supreme: Her sovereign virtue is compassion.
9. adj. Of superlative strength or efficacy: a sovereign remedy.
10. adj. Unmitigated: sovereign contempt.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. Supreme; paramount; commanding; excellent.
2. Supreme in power; possessing supreme dominion; not subject to any other; hence, royal; princely.
3. Efficacious in the highest degree; potent: said especially of medicines.
4. n. One who exercises supreme control or dominion; a ruler, governor, chief, or master; one to whom allegiance is due.
5. n. Specifically—(a ) A husband; a lord and master.
6. n. (b ) A provost or mayor.
7. n. A monarch; an emperor or empress; a king or queen.
8. n. A current English gold coin, the standard of the coinage, worth £1 or 20 shillings ($4.84), and weighing grains troy. The first English coin bearing this name was issued by Henry VII., was current for £1, and weighed 240 grains. Sovereigns continued to be issued till the time of James I. The original sovereign bore the type of a seated figure of the king, Henry VII. George III. revived the issue of the sovereign in 1817, and the coin was then of the same weight as the present sovereign of Queen Victoria. Double sovereigns have been struck at various times, and half-sovereigns are current coins. Abbreviated sov.
9. n. Synonyms King, etc. (see prince), potentate.
10. To rule over as a sovereign; exercise sovereign authority over.
11. n. An Austrian gold coin of the value of three ducats. The sovereign of Ferdinand I. was worth $6.76.
12. n. Any one of several nymphalid butterflies of the genus Basilarchia, as the banded purple, the hybrid purple, the red-spotted purple, the viceroy and the vicereine.

Wiktionary

1. adj. Exercising power of rule.
2. adj. Exceptional in quality.
3. adj. Extremely potent or effective (of a medicine, remedy etc.).
4. adj. Having supreme, ultimate power.
5. n. A monarch; the ruler of a country.
6. n. One who is not a subject to a ruler or nation.
7. n. A gold coin formerly used in the United Kingdom.
8. n. A very large champagne bottle with the capacity of about 25 liters, equivalent to 33⅓ standard bottles.
9. n. Any butterfly of the tribe Nymphalidi, or genus Basilarchia, as the ursula and the viceroy.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. adj. Supreme or highest in power; superior to all others; chief.
2. adj. Independent of, and unlimited by, any other; possessing, or entitled to, original authority or jurisdiction.
3. adj. Princely; royal.
4. adj. Predominant; greatest; utmost; paramount.
5. adj. Efficacious in the highest degree; effectual; controlling.
6. n. The person, body, or state in which independent and supreme authority is vested; especially, in a monarchy, a king, queen, or emperor.
7. n. A gold coin of Great Britain, on which an effigy of the head of the reigning king or queen is stamped, valued at one pound sterling, or about $4.86.
8. n. (Zoöl.) Any butterfly of the tribe Nymphalidi, or genus Basilarchia, as the ursula and the viceroy.

WordNet 3.0

1. adj. (of political bodies) not controlled by outside forces
2. adj. greatest in status or authority or power
3. n. a nation's ruler or head of state usually by hereditary right