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royal

 - 3 dictionary results

roy⋅al

  [roi-uhl]
Use royal in a Sentence
–adjective
1. of or pertaining to a king, queen, or other sovereign: royal power; a royal palace.
2. descended from or related to a king or line of kings: a royal prince.
3. noting or having the rank of a king or queen.
4. established or chartered by or existing under the patronage of a sovereign: a royal society.
5. (initial capital letter) serving or subject to a king, queen, or other sovereign.
6. proceeding from or performed by a sovereign: a royal warrant.
7. appropriate to or befitting a sovereign; magnificent; stately: royal splendor.
8. (usually initial capital letter) British. in the service of the monarch or of the Commonwealth: Royal Marines; Royal Air Force.
9. fine; excellent: in royal spirits.
10. Informal. extreme or persistent; unmitigated: a royal nuisance; a royal pain.
–noun
11. Nautical. a sail set on a royal mast.
12. Informal. a royal person; member of the royalty.
13. Usually, royals. Chiefly British. a member of England's royal family.
14. a size of printing paper, 20 × 25 in. (51 × 64 cm).
15. a size of writing paper, 19 × 24 in. (48 × 61 cm).
16. Numismatics. any of various former coins, as the real or ryal.
Origin:
1325–75; ME < MF < L rēgālis kingly, equiv. to rēg- (s. of rēx) king + -ālis -al 1 ; cf. regal

Related forms:
roy⋅al⋅ly, adverb

Synonyms:
7. majestic. See kingly.

Antonyms:
7. servile.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To royal
roy·al   (roi'əl)   
adj.  

  1. Of or relating to a monarch.

  2. Of the rank of a monarch.

  3. Of, relating to, or in the service of a kingdom.

  4. Issued or performed by a monarch: a royal warrant; a royal visit.

  5. Founded, chartered, or authorized by a monarch: a royal society of musicians.

  6. Befitting royalty; stately: royal treatment.

    1. Superior, as in size or quality.

    2. Used as an intensive: "It would be a first-class royal mess" (Sam Nunn).

n.  

  1. Informal A member of a monarch's family: "Among the resort's distinguished visitors are Swedish and Spanish royals" (Alistair Scott).

  2. Nautical A sail set on the royalmast.

  3. A paper size, 20 by 25 inches for printing, 19 by 24 inches for writing.


[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin rēgālis, from rēx, rēg-, king; see reg- in Indo-European roots.]
roy'al·ly adv.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

royal 
c.1250, from O.Fr. roial, from L. regalis, from rex (gen. regis) "king" (see rex). Battle royal (1672) preserves the Fr. custom of putting the adj. after the noun (cf. attorney general); the sense of the adj. here is "on a grand scale." As a modifier meaning "thorough, total" royal is attested in Eng. from 1940s. Royalist first recorded 1643. The Royal Oak was a tree in Boscobel in Shropshire in which Charles II hid himself during flight after the Battle of Worcester in 1651. Sprigs of oak were worn to commemorate his restoration in 1660.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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