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| to introduce subtleties into or argue subtly about. |
| to swindle, cheat, hoodwink, or hoax. |
- King had been born hearing but became deaf in a motorcycle accident as a young man.
- Come eye-to-eye with the king cobra, the longest venomous snake in the world.
- The king wanted to know whether his crown was made of pure gold, as stipulated, or whether the goldsmith had mixed some silver in.
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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| king (kɪŋ) | |
| —n | |
| 1. | a male sovereign prince who is the official ruler of an independent state; monarchRelated: royal, regal, monarchical |
| 2. | a. a ruler or chief: king of the fairies |
| b. (in combination): the pirate king | |
| 3. | a. a person, animal, or thing considered as the best or most important of its kind |
| b. (as modifier): a king bull | |
| 4. | any of four playing cards in a pack, one for each suit, bearing the picture of a king |
| 5. | check See also checkmate the most important chess piece, although theoretically the weakest, being able to move only one square at a time in any direction |
| 6. | draughts a piece that has moved entirely across the board and has been crowned, after which it may move backwards as well as forwards |
| 7. | king of kings |
| a. God | |
| b. a title of any of various oriental monarchs | |
| —vb | |
| 8. | to make (someone) a king |
| 9. | king it to act in a superior fashion |
| Related: royal, regal, monarchical | |
| [Old English cyning; related to Old High German kunig king, Danish konge] | |
| 'kinghood | |
| —n | |
| 'kingless | |
| —adj | |
| 'kinglike | |
| —adj | |
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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king
"As leon is the king of bestes." [John Gower, "Confessio Amantis," 1390]Kingfisher (1440) was originally king's fisher, for obscure reasons. Kingdom-come "the next world" (1785) is from the Lord's Prayer. The film "King Kong" was released 1933.
Oliver
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King definition
is in Scripture very generally used to denote one invested with authority, whether extensive or limited. There were thirty-one kings in Canaan (Josh. 12:9, 24), whom Joshua subdued. Adonibezek subdued seventy kings (Judg. 1:7). In the New Testament the Roman emperor is spoken of as a king (1 Pet. 2:13, 17); and Herod Antipas, who was only a tetrarch, is also called a king (Matt. 14:9; Mark 6:22). This title is applied to God (1 Tim. 1:17), and to Christ, the Son of God (1 Tim. 6:15, 16; Matt. 27:11). The people of God are also called "kings" (Dan. 7:22, 27; Matt. 19:28; Rev. 1:6, etc.). Death is called the "king of terrors" (Job 18:14). Jehovah was the sole King of the Jewish nation (1 Sam. 8:7; Isa. 33:22). But there came a time in the history of that people when a king was demanded, that they might be like other nations (1 Sam. 8:5). The prophet Samuel remonstrated with them, but the people cried out, "Nay, but we will have a king over us." The misconduct of Samuel's sons was the immediate cause of this demand. The Hebrew kings did not rule in their own right, nor in name of the people who had chosen them, but partly as servants and partly as representatives of Jehovah, the true King of Israel (1 Sam. 10:1). The limits of the king's power were prescribed (1 Sam. 10:25). The officers of his court were, (1) the recorder or remembrancer (2 Sam. 8:16; 1 Kings 4:3); (2) the scribe (2 Sam. 8:17; 20:25); (3) the officer over the house, the chief steward (Isa. 22:15); (4) the "king's friend," a confidential companion (1 Kings 4:5); (5) the keeper of the wardrobe (2 Kings 22:14); (6) captain of the bodyguard (2 Sam. 20:23); (7) officers over the king's treasures, etc. (1 Chr. 27:25-31); (8) commander-in-chief of the army (1 Chr. 27:34); (9) the royal counsellor (1 Chr. 27:32; 2 Sam. 16:20-23). (For catalogue of kings of Israel and Judah see chronological table in Appendix.)
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Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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