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ecial purpose; a sample. [Obs.] Such as exceed not this scantling; -- to be solace to the sovereign and harmless to the people. Bacon. A pretty scantling of his knowledge may taken by his deferring to be baptized so many years. Milton.

A staff or baton borne by a sovereign, as a ceremonial badge or emblem of authority; a royal mace. And the king held out Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Esther v. 2.

A seat; a site; a place where sovereign power is exercised. [Obs.] Chaucer. Jove laughed on Venus from his sovereign see. Spenser.

Something claimed or taken by virtue of sovereign prerogative; specifically, a charge or toll deducted from bullion brought to a mint to be coined; the difference between the cost of a mass of bullion and the value as money of the pieces coined from it. If government, however, throws the expense of coinage, as is reaso…

enders. He is now called sergeant-at-arms, and two of these officers, by allowance of the sovereign, attend on the houses of Parliament (one for each house) to execute their commands, and another attends the Court Chancery. The sergeant of the town of Rome them sought. Chaucer. The magistrates sent the serjeant, saying…

a royal seat; a throne. [Obs.] "Upon the very siege of justice." Shak. A stately siege of sovereign majesty, And thereon sat a woman gorgeous gay. Spenser. In our great hall there stood a vacant chair . . . And Merlin called it "The siege perilous." Tennyson.

A seal; especially, in England, the seal used by the sovereign in sealing private letters and grants that pass by bill under the sign manual; -- called also privy signet. I had my father's signet in my purse. Shak. Signet ring, a ring containing a signet or private seal. -- Writer to the signet (Scots Law), a judicial…

f respect formerly used in speaking to elders and superiors, but now only in addressing a sovereign.

of snuffing; a sound made by the air passing through the nose when obstructed. This dread sovereign, Breath, in its passage, gave a snort or snuffle. Coleridge.

A variant of Sovereign. [Poetic] On thy bald, awful head, O sovran Blanc. Coleridge.

See Squat snipe, under Squat. Squatter sovereignty, the right claimed by the squatters, or actual residents, of a Territory of the United States to make their own laws. [Local, U.S.] Bartlett.

act or position of humiliation. Can any loyal subject see With patience such a stoop from sovereignty Dryden.

the power of another; specifically (International Law), owing allegiance to a particular sovereign or state; as, Jamaica is subject to Great Britain. Esau was never subject to Jacob. Locke.

Support; aid; coöperation; esp., extraordinary aid in money rendered to the sovereign or to a friendly power. They advised the king to send speedy aids, and with much alacrity granted a great rate of subsidy. Bacon.

A ruler, or sovereign, of a Mohammedan state; specifically, the ruler of the Turks; the Padishah, or Grand Seignior; -- officially so called. Sultan flower. (Bot.) See Sweet sultan, under Sweet.

e Lord God is a sun and shield. Ps. lxxiv. 11. I will never consent to put out the sun of sovereignity to posterity. Eikon Basilike. Sun and planet wheels (Mach.), an ingenious contrivance for converting reciprocating motion, as that of the working beam of a steam engine, into rotatory motion. It consists of a toothed…

n and causes. Blackstone. Oath supremacy, an oath which acknowledges the supremacy of the sovereign in spiritual affairs, and renounced or abjures the supremacy of the pope in ecclesiastical or temporal affairs. [Eng.] Brande & C.

To hold possession of; to hold. [Obs.] Not with me, That in my hands surprise the sovereignity. J. Webster.

Joint rule or sovereignity. [R.] Stackhouse.

rth part of a province; hence, any subordinate or dependent prince; also, a petty king or sovereign.