— kingless , adj. — kinglessness , n. — kinglike , adj.
/king/ , n.
1. a male sovereign or monarch; a man who holds by life tenure, and usually by hereditary right, the chief authority over a country and people.
2. ( cap. ) God or Christ.
3. a person or thing preeminent in its class: a king of actors.
4. a playing card bearing a picture of a king.
5. Chess. the chief piece of each color, whose checkmating is the object of the game; moved one square at a time in any direction.
6. Checkers. a piece that has been moved entirely across the board and has been crowned, thus allowing it to be moved in any direction.
7. Entomol. a fertile male termite.
8. a word formerly used in communications to represent the letter K.
v.t.
9. to make a king of; cause to be or become a king; crown.
10. Informal. to design or make (a product) king-size: The tobacco company is going to king its cigarettes.
v.i.
11. to reign as king.
12. king it , to play the king; behave in an imperious or pretentious manner: He kinged it over all the other kids on the block.
adj.
13. Informal. king-size.
[ bef. 900; ME; OE cyng, cyni ( n ) g; c. G König, D koning, ON konungr, Sw konung, Dan konge. See KIN, -ING 3 ]