sovereign

adj

1. Exercising power of rule.

   “sovereign nation”

2. Exceptional in quality.

   “Her voice was her sovereign talent.”

3. (archaic)Extremely potent or effective (of a medicine, remedy etc.).

   “The ſoueraigne weede betwixt two marbles plaine She pownded ſmall, and did in peeces bruze, And then atweene her lilly handes twaine, Into his wound the iuyce thereof did ſcruze […]”

   “[…] God save the mark!— And telling me the sovereign’st thing on earth Was parmaceti for an inward bruise;”

   “Homer of Moly and Nepenthe singes: Moly, the gods most soveraigne hearbe divine. Nepenth Hellen's drink, which gladnes brings,— Hart's greife repells, and doth yᵉ witts refine.”

   “a sovereign remedy”

   “Such a sovereign influence has this passion upon the regulation of the lives and actions of men.”

4. Having supreme, ultimate power.

   “Gentlemen, may I introduce Her Royal Highness, the Sovereign and Most Imperial Majesty, Empress Elizabeth of Vicron.”

   “You're the keeper of the castle So be a father to your children The provider of all their daily needs Like a sovereign Lord protector Be their destiny's director And they'll do well to follow where you lead.”

5. Princely; royal.

   “You pity not the state, nor the remembrance of his most sovereign name.”

6. Predominant; greatest; utmost; paramount.

   “We acknowledge him [God] our sovereign good.”

noun

1. A monarch; the ruler of a country.

   “The petty ſtreames that paie a dailie det To their ſalt ſoveraigne with their freſh fals haſt, Adde to his flowe, but alter not his taſt.”

   “Is this the Region, this the Soil, the Clime, Said then the lost Archangel, this the seat That we must change for Heaven?, this mournful gloom For that celestial light? Be it so, since hee Who now is Sovran can dispose and bid What shall be right : fardest from him is best Whom reason hath equald, force hath made supream Above his equals. […]”

   “No question is to be made but that the bed of the Missisippi^([sic]) belongs to the sovereign, that is, to the nation.”

2. One who is not a subject to a ruler or nation.
3. (abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis)One who is not a subject to a ruler or nation.

   “A loose network of perhaps tens of thousands of far-right antigovernment extremists, sovereigns share certain conspiratorial beliefs and, sometimes, a desire to profit off a government whose legitimacy they deny.”

4. A gold coin of the United Kingdom, with a nominal value of one pound sterling but in practice used as a bullion coin.
5. A former Australian gold coin, minted from 1855–1931, of one pound value.
6. A very large champagne bottle with the capacity of about 25 liters, equivalent to 33+¹⁄₃ standard bottles.
7. Any butterfly of the tribe Nymphalini, or genus Basilarchia, eg., ursula, viceroy.
8. (UK, slang)A large, garish ring; a sovereign ring.

   “No, someone who wears loads of sovereigns as well loads of gold and has uh a curly perm and peroxide blonde hair, orange, orange sunbed skin and a fringe like this blow-dried to death, that’s a ‘scally’.”

   “No visible tattoos, sovereigns, mismatched jewellery, scrunchies, large clips or hoop earrings.”

9. The title of a monarch.

   “To the security of the Protestant interests—to the security of the Protestant Church—it is not only our duty, as Members of the British Parliament, to pay particular attention, but, it is also the particular duty of the Sovereign himself.”

10. God, the supreme being who has power over all creation.

    “Alas! and did my Saviour bleed? / And did my Sovereign dye?”

    “My Sov'reign, to thy throne, / With humble hope I preſs, / O bow thine ear to hear the groan / Of indigent diſtreſs.”

    “We trust You, Sovereign of our years / With all of our tomorrows”

verb

1. (transitive)To rule over as a sovereign.

name

1. A surname from German.