ROYALTY

noun (plural -ties) Etymology: Middle English roialte, from Anglo-French realté, roialté, from real Date: 14th century 1. royal status or power ; sovereignty , a right or perquisite of a sovereign (as a percentage paid to the crown of gold or silver taken from mines), regal character or bearing ; nobility , 3. persons of royal lineage, a person of royal rank , an elite class, a right of jurisdiction granted to an individual or corporation by a sovereign, 5. a share of the product or profit reserved by the grantor especially of an oil or mining lease, a payment to an author or composer for each copy of a work sold or to an inventor for each item sold under a patent