unsceptred en · ADJ · etymology 1
Etymology
From un- + sceptred.
Meanings
-
(not-comparable) Having no sceptre; not being an actual monarch (but having comparable qualities).
[…] our eyes behold The plain unsceptred king, the man of gold, The thrice illustrious threefold millionnaire;
1862, Oliver Wendell Holmes, “The Banker’s Dinner”, in The Poems of Oliver Wendell Holmes,, Boston: Ticknor and Fields, page 248:“[…] For the names I see written above me to-day on the immemorial canopy of heaven begin with that of the spotless knight, the unsceptred and uncrowned king, the godlike and immaculate”—(here he turned suddenly, ran to the front of the stage, and, with outstretched fist shaking violently over our heads, thundered at the full power of his lungs): “GEORGE WASHINGTON!”
1905, Booth Tarkington, “Hector”, in In the Arena: Stories of Political Life, New York: McClure, Phillips, page 162:[…] here one can see costly engravings of Landseer’s fine pictures, and indeed whole portfolios of English art. But of all the pictures there was one, the most touching, the most suggestive! The presiding genius of the place, the unsceptred Queen of this little realm before me—Faed’s Evangeline!
1859, Frederick Swartwout Cozzens, chapter 1, in Acadia; or, A Month with the Blue Noses, New York: Derby & Jackson, page 25:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| unsceptered | alternative | lexicographic |