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diadem

Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A crown worn as a sign of royalty.
  • noun Royal power or dignity.
  • transitive verb To adorn with or as if with a diadem.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In embryology, a term applied to certain eggs in the blastula stage.
  • noun Anciently, a head-band or fillet worn by kings as a badge of royalty.
  • noun Anything worn on the head as a mark or badge of royalty; a crown.
  • noun Figuratively, supreme power; sovereignty.
  • noun In heraldry, one of the arches which rise from the rim or circle of a crown, and support the mound or globe at the top.
  • noun In zoology, a certain monkey, Cercopithecus diadematus.
  • To adorn with or as if with a diadem; crown.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Originally, an ornamental head band or fillet, worn by Eastern monarchs as a badge of royalty; hence (later), also, a crown, in general.
  • noun Regal power; sovereignty; empire; -- considered as symbolized by the crown.
  • noun (Her.) An arch rising from the rim of a crown (rarely also of a coronet), and uniting with others over its center.
  • noun (Zoöl.) See Indri.
  • noun (Zoöl.) the garden spider.
  • transitive verb To adorn with a diadem; to crown.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An ornamental headband worn as a badge of royalty.
  • noun A crown.
  • noun Regal power; sovereignty; empire—considered as symbolized by the crown.
  • verb To adorn with a diadem; to crown.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an ornamental jeweled headdress signifying sovereignty

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English diademe, from Old French, from Latin diadēma, from Greek, band, from diadein, to bind around : dia-, dia- + dein, dē-, to bind.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek διάδημα (diadema, "band, especially worn around a tiara"), from διαδέω (diadeo, "bind around").

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Examples

  • Every land illuminated by thy diadem is encircled by thy might; and in all the zone of the heavens there is not a rebel to rise up against thee.

    Pharaohs, Fellahs and Explorers 1891

  • Let us rather go out to meet it gallantly: or perhaps -- for all this pendulous orb, this fair gem in the sky's diadem, is not surely plague-striken -- perhaps, in some secluded nook, amidst eternal spring, and waving trees, and purling streams, we may find Life.

    III.2 1826

  • In the height of his prosperity, the victorious monarch, who had chastised the rashness of Gallus, and suppressed the revolt of Sylvanus, who had taken the diadem from the head of Vetranio, and vanquished in the field the legions of Magnentius, received from an invisible hand a wound, which he could neither heal nor revenge; and the son of

    The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire 1206

  • Imperial diadem from the representatives of Gaul; and his election was ratified by the acclamations of the Barbarians and provincials.

    The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire 1206

  • The crown, known as a diadem, contained a special carving at its uppermost point.

    The Black Madonna Davis Bunn 2010

  • Then, I saw that upon the crest of the diadem was a single great diamond wonderfully chiselled to represent a bat with outspread wings, the device upon the banners of the mystic realm.

    The Great White Queen A Tale of Treasure and Treason William Le Queux 1895

  • A joy that has gone from us for ever is a jewel that trembles like a tear on Sorrow's breast, but the brightest stars in her diadem are the memories of hopes that have passed away unrealised and untold.

    A Dozen Ways Of Love Lily Dougall 1890

  • You see, her diadem is a wreath of them; but the blossoms of it are not fastening enough for her hair, though it is not long yet -- (she is only in reality a Florentine girl of fourteen or fifteen) -- so the little darling knots it under her ears, and then makes herself a necklace of it.

    Ariadne Florentina Six Lectures on Wood and Metal Engraving John Ruskin 1859

  • Plotina, the consort of Trajan; she wears the imperial diadem, which is here composed of precious stones cut into facets.

    Rambles of an Archaeologist Among Old Books and in Old Places Being Papers on Art, in Relation to Archaeology, Painting, Art-Decoration, and Art-Manufacture 1840

  • The diadem was a mark of royal rank among the Asiatic nations.

    Plutarch's Lives, Volume II 46-120? Plutarch 1839

Comments

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  • seanmeade commented on the word diadem

    'bring forth the royal diadem'

    April 2, 2007

  • uselessness commented on the word diadem

    I always thought this was a jewel-encrusted weapon.

    April 2, 2007

  • lexicant commented on the word diadem

    Transitive verb?? The archbishop DIADEMED the crown prince?

    June 28, 2009