King Lear /ˌkɪŋ ˈlɪəʳ/ BrE AmE
a play by William ↑ Shakespeare about an old king who decides to divide his ↑ kingdom among his three daughters according to how much each of them says she loves him. Two daughters, ↑ Goneril and ↑ Regan , pretend to love him very much, and he divides the kingdom between them. The third daughter, ↑ Cordelia , is the only one who really loves him, but she receives nothing because she says that she loves him no more and no less than she should. As a result there are many sad and terrible events, including the deaths of Lear and his three daughters.