# king

Pronunciation: say "KING" /kɪŋ/

## Noun

1. A male monarch: a man who rules a kingdom, usually by inheritance, and who in an absolute monarchy holds supreme power.
   - Simple: A man who rules a country, usually because he was born into the royal family.
   - _The king signed the treaty that finally ended the long war._
   - _For decades the king ruled without consulting any parliament or council._
2. A person or thing regarded as the most powerful, important or successful in a particular field or context.
   - Simple: The most powerful or important person or thing in an area, as in 'the king of rock' or 'cash is king'.
   - _The oil tycoon was the undisputed king of the energy market._
   - _Critics crowned the director the king of modern horror films._
3. A bed of a very large standard size, larger than a queen.
   - Simple: A very large bed, bigger than most other beds.
   - _The suite came with a king, so the kids could pile in with us on Sunday morning._
   - _She upgraded from a queen to a king for the extra space._
4. A playing card bearing the letter K and the image of a king, the thirteenth card in its suit.
   - Simple: A playing card marked with a K and a picture of a king.
   - _He laid down the king of spades to take the trick._
   - _A pair of kings gave her a strong opening hand._
6. The principal chess piece, which players try to threaten with unavoidable capture to win by checkmate.
   - Simple: The most important piece in chess, which the other player tries to trap to win.
   - _He castled early to tuck his king safely behind a wall of pawns._
   - _With her king cornered, she had no escape from checkmate._
5. Used as part of the names of animals and plants to signal a particularly large or impressive kind, such as the king crab.
   - Simple: Used in the names of some animals and plants to show a very big or special kind.
   - _We grilled fresh king salmon on the back deck._
   - _The king cobra is the longest venomous snake in the world._
7. A checkers piece that has reached the farthest row and been crowned, gaining greater freedom of movement.
   - Simple: A checkers piece that reached the far row and got crowned, letting it move more freely.
   - _Her last king was trapped in the corner, so she gave up the game._
   - _A king can move backward, unlike an ordinary checker._
11. An admired or respected man; often used as a form of address to praise or encourage him. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A man people like and respect, often used when talking to him to praise or cheer him on.
   - _"I finally finished my first marathon!" "Let's go, king!"_
   - _My neighbor shoveled the whole block's sidewalks this morning, and honestly, he's a king._
14. In bowling games, the pin or skittle placed at the center of the arrangement.
   - Simple: The middle pin in bowling, set in the center of the others.
   - _A clean hit on the king sent the surrounding pins flying._
   - _Skilled players target the king to scatter as many pins as possible._
15. A king-size cigarette rolling paper. *(slang, UK)*
   - Simple: A big paper used for rolling a cigarette by hand.
   - _She always rolls with a king because the standard papers feel too short._
   - _The corner shop had run out of kings, so he rolled his joint with two regular papers stuck together._
16. A male dragonfly; a drake.
   - Simple: A male dragonfly.

## Verb

8. To promote a checkers piece that has reached the opposite side, allowing it to move backward as well as forward.
   - Simple: To make a checkers piece a king after it reaches the far side of the board.
   - _Grandpa finally kinged his last man, and two turns later he had cleared my side of the board._
   - _If you let that checker reach your back row, your opponent gets to king it._
9. To crown someone king; to raise a person to the office of king.
   - Simple: To make someone a king, usually in a royal ceremony.
10. To rule over a place or people as king, carrying out a king's duties.
   - Simple: To rule a country or people as its king.
   - _For all his royal splendor, he had no talent for kinging._
   - _Once on the throne, he found that kinging meant far more paperwork than glory._
12. To assume or pretend superiority over others; to lord it over them.
   - Simple: To act as if you are better than everyone else and boss them around.
   - _He tends to king it over anyone he sees as less experienced._
   - _Once promoted, she kinged it over her former colleagues without shame._
13. To take the stage as a drag king, dressing for and performing the role.
   - Simple: To dress up and perform on stage as a drag king.
   - _Several first-timers tried kinging at the open-mic drag night._
   - _She hopes to king at the city's big Pride show next summer._

## Other meanings

- (noun) In graph theory, a vertex that can reach every other vertex by a directed path of length at most two.

## Origin

"King" comes from Middle English "king, kyng," from Old English "cyng, cyning," ultimately from Proto-Germanic *kuningaz, and is essentially "kin" plus the suffix "-ing." It has cognates across the Germanic languages, such as Dutch "koning," German "König," and Swedish "konung." The verb is inherited from Middle English "kyngen," meaning to perform the duties of a king, formed from the noun.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/king (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).