# throne

Pronunciation: say "THROHN" US /θɹoʊn/, UK /θɹəʊn/

## Noun

1. An impressive chair used by a monarch, often set on a raised platform in a throne room and kept for formal occasions.
   - Simple: A special, grand chair where a king or queen sits on important days.
   - _The ambassador bowed low as she approached the throne._
   - _The queen's throne, carved from oak and inlaid with gold, stands on a dais at the end of the hall._
2. The position of leader, especially the office of a king or queen.
   - Simple: The position of being king or queen, or the top leader of something.
   - _Two cousins fought a long civil war over the throne._
   - _After a decade as world champion, he surrendered his throne to a rising teenage star._
3. A polite, indirect way of referring to a toilet.
   - Simple: A polite way to say toilet.
   - _He spends far too long on the throne every morning, scrolling through his phone._
   - _The remodeled bathroom features a heated throne with a built-in bidet._
4. The official seat of a bishop in the cathedral of his diocese, or the seat of a pope.
   - Simple: The special chair of a bishop in the main church of his area, or the chair of a pope.
   - _During the service the bishop presided from his throne beside the high altar._
   - _As a young priest he dreamed of one day occupying the papal throne in Rome._
5. A kind of stool that drummers use, sitting on it while they play.
   - Simple: A stool that a drummer sits on to play the drums.
   - _Before the gig, he adjusted the height of his throne behind the kit._
   - _A padded throne with a backrest can save a drummer's spine on a long tour._
6. In Christian tradition, a member of an order of angels ranked above dominions and below cherubim.
   - Simple: In Christian belief, a type of angel ranked below the cherubim and above the dominions.
   - _The poet imagines a throne, one of the angelic host, bowing just below the cherubim before God._
   - _Medieval theologians counted the thrones among the highest ranks of angels, just beneath the cherubim._

## Verb

7. To place someone on a royal seat, formally making them ruler. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: To put someone on a royal seat and make them king or queen.
   - _The bishops gathered to throne the new emperor before the high altar._
   - _The rebels throned their own candidate in the captured palace._
8. To set someone or something in a high place, granting it sovereignty or dominion, or exalting it above others. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: To raise someone to a high place, give them power to rule, or praise them very highly.
   - _Her letters throne her late husband above every living man._
   - _The philosopher throned reason over every passion of the soul._
9. To sit on a throne, or to be seated or placed as if on one. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: To sit on a throne, or to sit up high like a king or queen.
   - _Kings throne in splendor while their people go hungry._
   - _On the hilltop, the old castle throned above the village like a crowned head._

## Origin

From Middle English trone, from Old French trone and Latin thronus, from Ancient Greek θρόνος (thrónos, “chair, throne”). It replaced the earlier English word seld (“seat, throne”).

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