Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Duke

Duke (dūk) n. [F. duc, fr. L. dux, ducis, leader, commander, fr. ducere to lead; akin to AS. teón to draw; cf. AS. heretoga (here army) an army leader, general, G. herzog duke. See Tue, and cf. Doge, Duchess, Ducat, Duct, Adduce, Deduct.] 1. A leader; a chief; a prince. [Obs.]

Hannibal, duke of Carthage. Sir T. Elyot.

All were dukes once, who were "duces" — captains or leaders of their people. Trench.

2. In England, one of the highest order of nobility after princes and princesses of the royal blood and the four archbishops of England and Ireland.

3. In some European countries, a sovereign prince, without the title of king.

Duke's coronet. See Illust. of Coronet. — To dine with Duke Humphrey, to go without dinner. See under Dine.

Duke, v. i. To play the duke. [Poetic]

Lord Angelo dukes it well in his absence. Shak.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.