prince
Part of speech: noun
Morphological type: derivation
Etymology: From Middle English prince, from Anglo-Norman prince, from Latin prīnceps (“first head”), from prīmus (“first”) + capiō (“seize, take”). Cognate with Old English fruma (“prince, ruler”). Doublet of princeps and principe.
Displaced native Middle English atheling, from Old English æþeling; Middle English kinebarn, from Old English cynebearn; Middle English alder, from Old English ealdor; and Middle English drighten, from Old English dryhten.
Base: prīmus
Inflected forms:
form: princes
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: A (male) ruler, a sovereign; a king, monarch.
pos: noun
tags: archaic
historical
examples: Truely, to see our Princes all alone, sitting at their meat, beleagred round with so many talkers, whisperers, and gazing beholders, unknowne what they are or whence they come, I have often rather pittied than envied them.
By his last years Erasmus realized that princes like Henry VIII and François I had deceived him in their elaborate negotiations for universal peace, but his belief in the potential of princely power for good remained undimmed.
If Henry does not fully trust him, is it surprising? A prince is alone: in his council chamber, in his bedchamber, and finally in Hell's antechamber, stripped – as Harry Percy said – for Judgment.
gloss: A female monarch.
pos: noun
tags: obsolete
examples: Queen Elizabeth, a prince admirable above her sex.
gloss: Someone who is preeminent in their field; a great person.
pos: noun
examples: He is a prince among men.
In some respects the intellectual is indeed closer to the philosopher than to any specialist, and the philosopher is in more than one sense a sort of prince among the intellectuals.
gloss: The (male) ruler or head of a principality.
pos: noun
examples: He is the prince who never grew up – a one-time playboy and son of the Hollywood star Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier of Monaco.
gloss: A male member of a royal family other than the ruler; especially (in the United Kingdom) the son or grandson of the monarch.
pos: noun
gloss: A non-royal high title of nobility, especially in France and the Holy Roman Empire.
pos: noun
examples: Prince Louis de Broglie won the 1929 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Conspiracy theories are always enticing: one I was involved with in the 50s was about Mayerling, the 19th-century Austrian scandal involving a prince’s lover who died in dodgy circumstances in a hunting lodge.
gloss: A type of court card used in tarot cards, the equivalent of the jack.
pos: noun
gloss: The mushroom Agaricus augustus.
pos: noun
gloss: Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genus Rohana.
pos: noun
Related words: princedom
princely
princeps
princess
principal
principality
principicide
principle
Derived words: archprince
black prince
clown prince
coprince
crown prince
finger prince
grand prince
happy as a prince
merchant prince
merprince
Nigerian prince
Nigerian prince scam
pearly prince
Prince Albert cage
prince-bishop
prince bishop
prince charming
prince consort
Prince Edward
Prince Edward County
Prince Frederick
princeful
Prince George
Prince George County
Prince George's County
princehood
princekin
princeless
princelet
princelike
princeling
prince-primate
prince regent
Prince Rupert
Princes End
princeship
Princes Risborough
Princetown
Princeville
Prince William County
Prince William Sound
princewood
princified
water prince
Translations: