Definition of "king" in English

noun

1. A male monarch; a man who heads a monarchy; in an absolute monarchy, the supreme ruler of his nation.

   • Henry VIII was the king of England from 1509 to 1547.
   • Charles the third became the new king of England from 2022.

2. The monarch with the most power and authority in a monarchy, regardless of sex.

3. A powerful or majorly influential person; someone who holds the preeminent position.

   • Howard Stern styled himself as the "king of all media".

4. (countable or uncountable) Something that has a preeminent position.

   • In times of financial panic, cash is king.

5. A component of certain games.

6. (UK, slang) A king skin.

   • Oi mate, have you got kings?

7. A male dragonfly; a drake.

8. A king-sized bed.

9. (graph theory) A vertex in a directed graph which can reach every other vertex via a path with a length of at most 2.

verb

1. To crown king, to make (a person) king.

   • 1982, South Atlantic Modern Language Association, South Atlantic Review, Volume 47, page 16, The kinging of Macbeth is the business of the first part of the play […] .

2. To rule over as king.

3. To perform the duties of a king.

   • 1918, Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, The Railroad Trainman, Volume 35, page 675, He had to do all his kinging after supper, which left him no time for roystering with the nobility and certain others.

4. To assume or pretend preeminence (over); to lord it over.

5. To promote a piece of draughts/checkers that has traversed the board to the opposite side, that piece subsequently being permitted to move backwards as well as forwards.

6. To dress and perform as a drag king.

noun

1. Alternative form of qing (“Chinese musical instrument”).