▪ I. sceptre, n.
(ˈsɛptə(r))
Forms: 3–6 ceptre, 4 ceptire, 5 ceptur(e, ceptyr, 5–6 ceptour, 6 cepter; 4 septir, 4–6 septor, septre, septur(e, 4–7 septer, 5 seipter, septere, 5–6 septour(e, 6 septar; 4 sceptir(e, sceptree, 5 sceptoure, 5–6 scepture, 6 sceptar, 6–9 scepter, 4– sceptre.
[ME. ceptre, septre, sceptre, a. OF. ceptre, sceptre (mod.F. sceptre) = Sp. cetro, Pg. sceptro, It. scettro, scetro, ad. L. scēptrum, scæptrum, a. Gr. σκῆπτρον staff, sceptre, f. root of σκήπτεσθαι to prop oneself, lean on something.]
1. An ornamental rod or wand (often of gold and jewelled) borne in the hand as a symbol of regal or imperial authority.
In England the royal assent to a bill passed by Parliament is signified by the sovereign's touching it with a sceptre.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 7863 Þai sett a ceptre in his hand, þat man clepes kyngs wand. a 1340 Hampole Psalter Cant. 511 Sceptire is þe kyngis wand, þat bitakyns his pouste. c 1386 Chaucer Monk's T. 3564 And she that bar the ceptre ful of floures Shal bere a distaf hire costes for to quyte. a 1400–50 Alexander 502 Þe king was sett in his sale with septer in hand. 1430–40 Lydg. Bochas viii. xiii[i]. (1494) D ij b, Swerde, sceptre [1554 scepter, 1558 seipter] crowne and state Imperiall. c 1485 in Rutland Papers (Camden) 10 A septre with the dowe, and a rodd of gold for the King, and with a septre of iuere also with a dove and an other rodd of gold also, for the Quene. 1513 Bradshaw St. Werburge i. 151 Duke Engystus in honour excellent, With septre and crowne fyrst reygned royally. 1555 Eden Decades (Arb.) 124 She appeared to them shakynge a septer in her hande. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. iv. i. 190 His Scepter shewes the force of temporall power, The attribute to awe and Maiestie. 1613 ― Hen. VIII, iv. i. 38 Who's that that beares the Scepter? Marquesse Dorset. 1689 Lond. Gaz. No. 2461/3 This Act being touched with the Scepter, the President..Adjourned the Parliament to the 17th of this instant June. 1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) IV. 353 The figure of a sceptre inclosed within a wreath of crowns and sceptres interwoven. 1813 Scott Trierm. ii. vii, I swear by sceptre and by sword, as belted knight and Britain's lord. 1871 B. Taylor Faust (1875) I. vi. 105 So sit I, like the King upon his throne: I hold the sceptre, here,—and lack the crown alone. 1882 ‘Ouida’ Maremma I. 147 The eagle with spread wings upon his ivory sceptre. |
b. Her. A representation of this.
| 1610 J. Guillim Heraldry iii. i. (1611) 191 The Field is Iupiter, a Scepter Roiall in Pale. 1831 H. Thompson Heraldry in Encycl. Metrop. V. 614/2 It is not usual, but Heraldic and allowable, to marshal behind the Arms of the Sovereign the different Sceptres to which he is entitled. 1909 Fox-Davies Compl. Guide to Heraldry 298 The other chief emblem of sovereignty—the Sceptre—is occasionally met with, as in the Whitgreave crest of augmentation. |
c. In figurative context.
| 1750 Johnson Rambler No. 3, ¶9 When her examination had convinced her [sc. Criticism], that the laws of just writing had been observed, she touched it with the amaranthine end of the sceptre, and consigned it over to immortality. 1813 Shelley Q. Mab v. 176 Though they [sc. Tyranny and Falsehood] wield With blood-red hand the sceptre of the world. |
¶ d. Used to render
Gr. σκῆπτρον staff.
| 1526 Tindale Heb. xi. 21 By fayth Iacob when he was a deyinge, blessed both the sonnes of Ioseph, and worshipped on the toppe of his Ceptre. |
2. fig. Taken as the power or authority symbolized by a sceptre; hence, royal or imperial dignity, sovereignty, supremacy.
| 1382 Wyclif Gen. xlix. 10 The septre fro Juda shal not be takun awey. c 1400 Destr. Troy. 119 Of Septur and soile he sesit his brothir, And hym crownede as kyng in þat kithe riche. 1535 Coverdale Ps. xliv. 6 Thy seate (o God) endureth for euer: the cepter of thy kyngdome is a right cepter. a 1586 Sidney Arcadia iii. (Sommer) 303 b, She (in whose mind Vertue gouerned with the scepter of Knowledge). c 1620 A. Hume Brit. Tongue (1865) 3 Your Majesties self noe less, commanding, at your first entrie to your Roial scepter, to reform the grammar, and to teach Aristotle in his aun tongue. 1781 Logan in Sc. Paraphr. xviii. iv, His sceptre shall protect the just. 1788 Gibbon Decl. & F. xlvi. IV. 504 The Persian conqueror governed his new subjects with an iron sceptre. 1820 Byron Mar. Fal. i. ii. 269 Could I not shatter the Briarean sceptre Which in this hundred-handed senate rules. 1865 Ruskin Sesame ii. §90 Before the myrtle crown, and the stainless sceptre, of womanhood. 1902 Fuller-Maitland Oxf. Hist. Music IV. Introd. 4 The student of history watches the sceptre of musical supremacy passing, as it were, from England to the Netherlands. |
3. A popular name of the sceptred gold unite first coined in 1604; also,
† the name suggested for a silver coin in 1695.
| 1695 Lowndes Rep. Ess. Amend. Silver Coins 62 One Piece which may be called the Sceptre or the Silver-Unite. 1736 M. Folkes Gold Coins 6, 2 Ja. I. Sovereigns or Units, vulgarly called Scepters. 1763 Snelling Gold Coin 22 The Unitie or Unite..is also frequently called a scepter, from the scepter in the king's hand, in distinction to those..called Laurels, from the laureated head. 1870 Henfrey Eng. Coins i. 56. |
† 4. (With capital initial.) A constellation in the southern hemisphere.
| 1728 Chambers Cycl., Scepter, Sceptrum, in astronomy, one of the six new constellations of the southern hemisphere, consisting of 17 stars. 1837 Penny Cycl. VII. 476 There are many other constellations formed by different individuals; but these are not now generally admitted. Such are..the Sceptre of Brandenburgh [etc.]. 1850 in Ogilvie. |
5. attrib. and
Comb., as
sceptre-bearer,
† sceptre-holder,
† sceptre-staff,
† sceptre-wand;
sceptre-bearing adj.;
† sceptre broad-piece,
-piece,
† -unite = sense 3;
sceptre-flower (see
quot. 1866);
† sceptre-rule (see
quot.);
† sceptre-state, a king.
| 1598 Florio, Scetrigero, a ruler, a *scepter-bearer, a sergeant at armes. |
| c 1611 Chapman Iliad ii. 69 The other *scepter-bearing States..obeyd The peoples Rector. 1625 K. Long tr. Barclay's Argenis ii. viii. 88 Restore them; or no reverence shall withstand Of thy crown'd head, or scepter-bearing hand. |
| 1701 Lond. Gaz. No. 3739/4 A striped Silk Spring-Purse with *Scepter Broad Pieces of Gold and others, Guineas, Pistols, &c. |
| 1866 Treas. Bot., *Sceptre-flower. Sceptranthus. |
| a 1653 Gouge Comm. Heb. i. 81 A Scepter..is so proper to a King, as he is called a *Scepter-holder. |
| 1695 Locke Further Consid. Value Money 86, 1 Crown or *Scepter piece 0 6 3. 1736 M. Folkes Gold Coins (1745) 12 A unit of his [Jas. I] 2{supd} year, called a scepter piece. |
| 1611 Florio, Scetro,..a Kingdome or *Scepter-rule. |
| 1832 Tennyson Œnone 124 Till thy hand Fail from the *sceptre-staff. |
| 1598 Chapman Iliad ii. 83 The other *scepter-states Rose and obayde the Generall. |
| 1853 Humphreys Coin-Coll. Man. xxxii. 464 After the coining of the units—coins of similar value—these pieces were sometimes called *sceptre units. |
| 1456 Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 189 The *scepter wand suld nocht be away tane fra the princis of Jowry. |
▪ II. sceptre, v. (
ˈsɛptə(r))
[f. sceptre n.] 1. trans. To furnish with a sceptre.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 260 When he was..crowned with thornes, Septred with a rede in derysyon and scorne. 1634 Bp. Hall Contempl. N.T., Christ bef. Pilate 263 Thy head smitten, thy hand sceptred with a reed. a 1711 Ken Hymns Evang. Poet. Wks. 1721 I. 156 Jesus..Crown'd with sharp Thorns, and scepter'd with a Reed. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. III. iv. 223 Most like a mighty king was he, And crowned and sceptered royally. |
2. To touch (with a sceptre) as a sign of royal assent or ratification. (
Cf. sceptre n. 1,
quot. 1689.)
| 1851 A. Strickland Queens of Eng. I. Introd. 18 William III..arrogated exclusively to himself the privilege of sceptering or rejecting bills. |
Hence
ˈsceptring vbl. n.| 1821 Examiner 449/1 The real meaning of scepterings and anointings. |