king Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a male sovereign; ruler of a kingdom
    male monarch; Rex.
  2. noun a competitor who holds a preeminent position
    world-beater; queen.
  3. noun a very wealthy or powerful businessman
    business leader; tycoon; magnate; baron; power; mogul; top executive; big businessman.
    • an oil baron
  4. noun preeminence in a particular category or group or field
    • the lion is the king of beasts
  5. noun United States woman tennis player (born in 1943)
    Billie Jean King; Billie Jean Moffitt King.
  6. noun United States guitar player and singer of the blues (born in 1925)
    B. B. King; Riley B King.
  7. noun United States charismatic civil rights leader and Baptist minister who campaigned against the segregation of Blacks (1929-1968)
    Martin Luther King; Martin Luther King Jr..
  8. noun a checker that has been moved to the opponent's first row where it is promoted to a piece that is free to move either forward or backward
  9. noun one of the four playing cards in a deck bearing the picture of a king
  10. noun (chess) the weakest but the most important piece

WordNet

King noun
Definitions
  1. A Chinese musical instrument, consisting of resonant stones or metal plates, arranged according to their tones in a frame of wood, and struck with a hammer.
King noun
Etymology
AS. cyng, cyning; akin to OS. kining, D. koning, OHG. kining, G. könig, Icel. konungr, Sw. koning, OHG. kuning, Dan. konge; formed with a patronymic ending, and fr. the root of E. kin; cf. Icel. konr a man of noble birth. . See Kin.
Definitions
  1. A chief ruler; a sovereign; one invested with supreme authority over a nation, country, or tribe, usually by hereditary succession; a monarch; a prince. "Ay, every inch a king." Shak.
    Kings will be tyrants from policy, when subjects are rebels from principle. Burke.
    There was a State without king or nobles. R. Choate.
    But yonder comes the powerful King of Day, Rejoicing in the east Thomson.
  2. One who, or that which, holds a supreme position or rank; a chief among competitors; as, a railroad king; a money king; the king of the lobby; the king of beasts.
  3. A playing card having the picture of a king; as, the king of diamonds.
  4. The chief piece in the game of chess.
  5. A crowned man in the game of draughts.
  6. pl. The title of two historical books in the Old Testament. ✍ King is often used adjectively, or in combination, to denote preëminence or superiority in some particular; as, kingbird; king crow; king vulture.
King intransitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Kinged ; present participle & verbal noun Kinging)
Definitions
  1. To supply with a king; to make a king of; to raise to royalty. R. Shak.
    Those traitorous captains of Israel who kinged themselves by slaying their masters and reigning in their stead. South.

Webster 1913