count palatine

noun,plural counts palatine.

(formerly, in Germany) a count having jurisdiction in his fief or province.
Also called earl palatine. English History. an earl or other county proprietor who exercised royal prerogatives within his county.

Origin of count palatine

First recorded in 1590–1600

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use count palatine in a sentence

I have used the term Counts Palatine, from the old writer whose name stands in the margin.
The History of Chivalry | G. P. R. James
It gave to the proprietary the legal power exercised from ancient times by the Bishops of Durham as counts-palatine.
The Beginners of a Nation | Edward Eggleston.
The emperors, too, continued to make counts palatine under this title long after the Lateran had ceased to be an imperial palace.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 6 | Various
It soon became a town and the chief residence of the counts palatine.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 2 | Various

British Dictionary definitions for count palatine

count palatine

nounplural counts palatine history

(in the Holy Roman Empire)
- originally an official who administered the king's domains or his justice
- later, a count who exercised royal authority in his own domains
(in England and Ireland) an earl or other lord of a county palatine

(in the late Roman Empire) a palace official who exercised judicial authority

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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