of, relating to, or befitting a king, queen, or other monarch; regal
2.
(prenominal; often capital) established, chartered by, under the patronage or in the service of royalty: the Royal Society of St George
3.
being a member of a royal family
4.
above the usual or normal in standing, size, quality, etc
5.
informal unusually good or impressive; first-rate
6.
nautical just above the topgallant (in the phrase royal mast)
—n
7.
informal (sometimes capital) a member of a royal family
8.
Also called: royal stag a stag with antlers having 12 or more branches
9.
nautical a sail set next above the topgallant, on a royal mast
10.
a size of printing paper, 20 by 25 inches
11.
chiefly (Brit) Also called: small royal a size of writing paper, 19 by 24 inches
12.
any of various book sizes, esp 61⁄4 by 10 inches (royal octavo), 6¾ by 101⁄4 inches (super royal octavo), and (chiefly Brit) 10 by 12½ inches (royal quarto) and 101⁄4 by 13½ inches (super royal quarto)
[C14: from Old French roial, from Latin rēgālis, fit for a king, from rēx king; compare regal1]
mid-13c., from O.Fr. roial, from L. regalis, from rex (gen. regis) "king" (see rex). Battle royal (1670s) preserves the Fr. custom of putting the adjective 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 English from 1940s. Royalist first recorded 1640s. 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.