▪ I. kingdom, n.
(ˈkɪŋdəm)
Forms: 1 cyning-, 3 kung-, 4–5 kyng-, 4– kingdom; also 4 king-, 4–5 kyngdam(e; 4–5 kinge-, 5 kynge-, 4–7 kyng-, 6–7 kingdome, (7 -doume), (4 kingdon, 5 kyngham).
[OE. cyningdóm = OS. kuningdôm (MDu. koninghdom, Du. koningdom), G. königtum (only since 18th c.), ON. konungdóm-r: see king and -dom.
OE. cyningdóm is found only in the poem of Daniel, the usual word being cynedóm, whence ME. kinedom, kindom. The use of kingdom in ME. was further limited by the existence of kingrick and kinrick, with the same senses.]
† 1. Kingly function, authority, or power; sovereignty, supreme rule; the position or rank of a king, kingship. Obs. a. Without article.
| a 1000 Daniel 567 Se [metod] þec aceorfeð of cyningdome. Ibid. 680 Þa wæs endedæᵹ, þæs þe Caldeas cyningdom ahton. c 1325 Know Thyself 76 in E.E.P. (1862) 132 Þauȝ þou haue kyngdam and empyre. 1529 Rastell Pastyme, Hist. Rom. (1811) 13 Put downe from his dignyte of kyngdome. 1533 Bellenden Livy i. (1822) 12 Avarice and desire of kingdome. a 1679 Hobbes Rhet. viii. (1681) 19 Monarchy..which Government, if he limit it by Law, is called Kingdom; if by his own will, Tyranny. |
b. With poss. pron. or the (passing into 2 or 3).
| a 1300 Cursor M. 7613 He dred his kingdom [v.r. -dome] to lese, Þat þai to king suld dauid chese. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 142 Thus was he from his kingdom Into the wilde Forest drawe. c 1425 Eng. Conq. Irel. 28 Sume of hys eldre to-fore hym hadden somtyme the kynge-dome of all Irland. 1535 Coverdale 1 Sam. xiv. 47 Whan Saul had conquered the kyngdome ouer Israel. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, iv. ii. 62 Else my Kingdome stands on brittle Glasse. 1631 Weever Anc. Fun. Mon. 767 Sigebert..resigned vp his kingdome. |
2. An organized community having a king as its head; a monarchical state or government.
Latin Kingdom (see Latin). Middle Kingdom, a translation of Chinese chung kwoh ‘central state’, originally the name given, c b.c. 1150, under the Chan dynasty, to the imperial state of Honan, in contrast to the dependencies surrounding it. In mod. use the term is sometimes confined to the eighteen provinces of China Proper, but is also used to denote the whole Chinese Empire. United Kingdom, Great Britain and Ireland, so called since the Act of Union of 1800.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 2127 (Cott.) Þe mast cite..And mani riche kingdon [Gött. mani a noþer riche kingdame]. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 31 Somtyme þere were foure principal kyngdoms..þe firste kyngdom was vnder oure fore fadres from Adam to Moyses. 1657–8 Burton's Diary (1828) II. 403 The Commons of England will quake to hear that they are returning to Egypt, to the garlick and onions of..a kingdom. 1672 Temple Ess., Government Wks. 1731 I. 102 If..a Nation extended it self over vast Tracts of Land and Numbers of People, it thereby arrived in time at the ancient Name of Kingdom, or modern of Empire. 1734 Pope Ess. Man iv. 133 This world..Contents us not. A better shall we have? A kingdom of the Just then let it be. 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. Wks. V. 48 There is ground enough for the opinion that all the kingdoms of Europe were at a remote period elective. 1801 Proclamation 22 Jan., George the Third,..of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, King. 1883 S. W. Williams Middle Kingdom I. 4 A third [name] is Chung Kwoh, or Middle Kingdom. 1883 Standard 6 Apr. 5/2 The Middle Kingdom has forwarded the..articles. 1900 Westm. Gaz. 15 Oct. 4/2 His invitation having been..only the second to a foreigner, by the Kingdom of the Chrysanthemum [Japan]. |
3. a. The territory or country subject to a king; the area over which a king's rule extends; a realm.
| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 1260 A kungriche his name bar; And of duma his sexte sune, A kungdom dirima. c 1340 Cursor M. 5567 (Trin.) Þenne commaundide kyng pharao..Ouer al his kyngdome euery where [etc.]. c 1400 Three Kings Cologne 8 In all þe londys and þe kyngdoms of þe eest. a 1450 Cov. Myst. (Shaks. Soc.) 210 Naverne and the kyngdom of Spayn. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. ii. vii. 10 A true-deuoted Pilgrime is not weary To measure Kingdomes with his feeble steps. 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 361 The utmost border of his kingdom. 1794 Burke Corr. (1844) IV. 255, I wish he may be able to find his kingdom in the map of the British territories. 1841 W. Spalding Italy & It. Isl. III. 71 The Kingdom of Naples consisted of the same provinces on the mainland which had been governed by the Bourbons. |
b. A familiar name for the Scotch county of Fife, which was one of the seven Pictish kingdoms.
| 1710 Sibbald Hist. Fife & Kinross 3 It was from the large Extent of Fife of old, that the Vulgar are wont to call it The Kingdom of Fife. 1845–52 Billings in Ordnance Gaz. Scotl. III. 19/1 A ramble amongst the grey old towns which skirt the ancient Kingdom of Fife. 1886 (title) The Kingdom; a handbook to Fife (ed. 3). 1899 Westm. Gaz. 21 Jan. 1/3 (heading) ‘Kodaks from the Kingdom’. |
4. trans. and fig. a. The spiritual sovereignty of God or Christ, or the sphere over which this extends, in heaven or on earth; the spiritual state of which God is the head.
The conception and the different phrases expressing it are of frequent occurrence in the first three gospels. In Matthew the common form is the kingdom of heaven, sometimes merely the kingdom; in Mark and Luke, as well as in the epistles of St. Paul, the constant phrase is the kingdom of God. Cf. also Ps. cxlv, Daniel ii. 44, vii. 27, etc.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 1615 (Gött.) Forto bring Þaim..Als his aune his kingdam tille. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 1408 Þe way of lyfe..Þat ledes us til our contre-warde Þat es þe kyngdom of heven bright. Ibid. 8778 Þat land es cald..Þe kyngdom of God alle-myghty. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. Prol. 105 Þere crist is in kyngdome..to opne it to hem and heuene blisse shewe. 1382 Wyclif Matt. iii. 2 Do ye penaunce for the kyngdom of heuens shal neiȝ. ― John xviii. 36 Jhesu answeride, My kyngdom is not of this world. 1567 Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.) 116 The gloriousnes of thy kingdome [they] teiche. 1671 Milton P.R. iii. 199 What concerns it thee, when I begin My everlasting Kingdom? a 1822 Shelley Chas. I, iii. 28 Until Heaven's kingdom shall descend on earth. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xix. 197 ‘Augustine, sometimes I think you are not far from the kingdom’, said Miss Ophelia. |
b. Used in reference to the spiritual rule or realm of evil or infernal powers.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 18245 Nu es all vr kingdom for-dune, O man-kind mon we gett ful fune. 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. v. ii. 30, I am Reuenge sent from th' infernall Kingdome. 1594 ― Rich. III, i. iii. 144 High thee to Hell..Thou Cacodemon, there thy Kingdome is. 1629 Milton Hymn Nativ. 171 Th' old Dragon..wrath to see his Kingdom fail. 1667 ― P.L. vi. 183 Reign thou in Hell thy Kingdom. |
c. A realm, region, or sphere in which some condition or quality is supreme or prevails.
| [1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. ii. 65 Wiþ þe kingdom of Couetise I Croune hem to-gedere.] a 1380 St. Ambrose 755 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1878) 20 To þe kyngdom of blis Þat euer schal laste. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, i. iv. 47, I past (me thought) the Melancholly Flood..Vnto the Kingdome of perpetuall Night. 1637 Milton Lycidas 177 In the blest kingdoms meek of joy and love. 1872 Ruskin Eagle's Nest §33 The elastic and vaporous kingdom of folly. 1875 E. White Life in Christ iii. xxiii. (1876) 361 The Kingdom of Darkness is man's arena of action separated from his God. |
d. Any sphere in which one has dominion like that of a king. to come (in) to one's kingdom: to acquire authority, power, attractiveness, or the like. Cf. Luke xxiii. 42.
| c 1600 Sir E. Dyer Poems (ed. Grosart) 21 My mynde to me a Kyngdome is. 1781 Cowper Truth 406 His mind his kingdom, and his will his law. 1784 ― Tirocin. 12 Hers [the soul's] is the state..An intellectual kingdom all her own. 1825 Scott Talism. vii, The sick-chamber of the patient is the kingdom of the physician. 1892 Kipling & Balestier Naulahka xviii. 211 Now we are come to our Kingdom..Little it profits us. 1930 L. G. Moberly Eternal Dustbin xiv. 194 That woman has come into her kingdom. 1973 R. Rendell Some lie & Some Die iii. 30 Good luck. Remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. |
e. Anything compared to a realm or country ruled by a king; a domain.
| 1595 Shakes. John iv. ii. 246 The body of this fleshly Land, This kingdome, this Confine of blood, and breathe. 1597 ― 2 Hen. IV, iv. iii. 118 All the rest of this little Kingdome (Man). a 1822 Shelley Chas I, ii. 385 To dispeople your unquiet kingdom of man. 1832 Tennyson Pal. Art 228 The airy hand..divided quite The kingdom of her thought. |
5. A realm or province of nature; esp. each of the three great divisions of natural objects, the animal kingdom, vegetable kingdom, and mineral kingdoms.
| [1642 M. R. Besler (title) Gazophylacium Rerum Naturalium, e regno vegetabili, animali, et minerali depromptarum.] a 1691 Boyle Chr. Virtuoso ii. i. i. §3 The mineral kingdom, as, after the chemists, most writers now call it. 1692 Bentley Boyle Lect. iv. 131 If they confine the Earth to Pigmie Births in the Vegetable Kingdom. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey) s.v., Chymists..call the three Orders of Natural Bodies, viz. Animal, Vegetable, and Mineral, by the name of Kingdoms. 1746–7 Hervey Medit. (1818) 153 Another subject of the verdant kingdom..demands my particular notice. 1776 Withering Brit. Plants (1796) I. 5 The Animal, the Vegetable, and the Fossil or Mineral Kingdom. 1802 Playfair Illustr. Hutton. The. 178 The bodies of amphibious animals which now make part of the fossil kingdom. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 411 No kingdom of nature was left unexplored. |
6. kingdom-come (from the clause thy kingdom come in the Lord's Prayer). a. Heaven or paradise; the next world. slang.
| 1785 Grose Dict. Vulg. T. s.v., He is gone to kingdom come, he is dead. 1789 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Subj. Paint. Wks. 1812 II. 180 Sending such a Rogue to Kingdom-come. 1870 M. Bridgman R. Lynne I. xii. 184 So old aunt Duncan has gone to kingdom come at last. |
b. The millennial kingdom of Christ. Also attrib.
| 1848 Clough Amours de Voy. iii. 76 It would seem this Church is indeed of the purely Invisible, Kingdom-come kind. 1873 Miss Thackeray Wks. (1891) I. p. x, A future..bound to us by a thousand hopes and loving thoughts—a Kingdom-come for us all. |
7. attrib. and Comb., as kingdom-quake (after earthquake), kingdom-making, etc.
| a 1711 Ken Urania Poet. Wks. 1721 IV. 463 In Kingdom-quakes the wise Feel no disquieting surprise. 1872 A. de Vere Leg. St. Patrick, Disbelief of Milcho 161 Exile, or kingdom-wearied king. 1882 Times 18 Mar. 4/2 The Russian intrigue which they say pushed on the kingdom-making. |
Hence ˈkingdomful, as much as a kingdom can hold; ˈkingdomless a., having no kingdom; ˈkingdomship, a kingdom; a kingship.
| 1547 Boorde Introd. Knowl. Index, The thyrd chapter treateth of..the kyngdomeshyp of Irland. Ibid. ii. (1870) 132 Irland is a Kingdomship longing to the Kyng of England. 1882 Farrar Early Chr. II. 319 Provincial governors..here characterised as kings yet kingdomless. |
▪ II. kingdom, v.
(ˈkɪŋdəm)
[f. prec. n.]
† 1. intr. (with it). To pose or figure as a kingdom. Obs. nonce-use.
| a 1618 Sylvester Dialogue 24 Every Countie Kingdomes it a-part. |
2. trans. a. To take possession of, as a kingdom. b. To furnish with a kingdom (only in pass.).
| 1887 J. Service Life Dr. Duguid 270, I was..Haunted for ever by a fleeting face..whose lips So often as I slept, would kingdom mine. a 1891 Ld. Lytton King Poppy xi. 480 King henceforth Thou art, and bravely kingdom'd. |