Definitions

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

  • adjective Of or relating to a duke or duchy.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Pertaining to a duke: as, a ducal coronet.
  • In ornithology, a term applied to certain large terns of the subgenus Thalasseus, as Sterna(Thalasseus) cantiaca.

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

  • adjective Of or pertaining to a duke.

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

  • adjective Of or pertaining to a duke, a duchess, or the duchy or dukedom they hold.

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

  • adjective of or belonging to or suitable for a duke

Etymologies

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

[Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin ducālis, from Latin dux, duc-, leader; see duke.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Old French ducal, from Latin ducālis.

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Examples

  • He called the ducal palace that evening and got through to the chief social secretary.

    Agent Of The Terran Empire Anderson, Poul, 1926- 1965

  • Opening this, they entered a room which Casanova immediately identified as the ducal chancellery.

    The Historical Nights' Entertainment First Series Rafael Sabatini 1912

  • My mother, who was as haughty as Lucifer with her descent from the Stuarts, and her right line from the _old Gordons, not the Seyton Gordons_, as she disdainfully termed the ducal branch, told me the story, always reminding me how superior _her_ Gordons were to the southern

    Life of Lord Byron, Vol. 4 (of 6) With His Letters and Journals Thomas Moore 1815

  • Gordons_, -- _not_ the _Seyton Gordons_, as she disdainfully termed the ducal branch, -- told me the story, always reminding me how superior _her_

    Life of Lord Byron, Vol. 2 (of 6) With His Letters and Journals Thomas Moore 1815

  • Shang that he received extraordinary rank; just as, in very much later days, the Confucius family was the only non-Manchu to possess "ducal" rank, or, as the Japanese seem to hold in German style, "princely" rank.

    Ancient China Simplified Edward Harper Parker 1887

  • In his poor lodging, 3 Rivers Street, Bath, and his reception and treatment of me there, I found something which I could call 'ducal' or higher than if he had been a duke, and still palatial.

    Letters and Memorials of Jane Welsh Carlyle 1883

  • He wrote heartfelt petrarchan sonnets extolling his employers, and in 1551 wrote awestruck from the reconquered Pisa, while painting the ducal children: "I am continually with these most saintly sovereigns, and I rejoice in the blessed sweetness of so good and benign a prince."

    Bronzino's Medici portraits – review James Hall 2010

  • When you've finished contemplating the studiolo, a secret door opens to reveal a balcony overlooking the ducal palace's hilltop command.

    Sanctity in Perspective David Netto 2012

  • Meanwhile, Giovanni Antonio Canal, famed as Canaletto, will feature at the Dickinson gallery in Jermyn Street with a pair of masterful Venetian views of the Piazza San Marco and its ducal palace from circa 1755 price for the pair: €4.5 million.

    A Week of Masters Descends Margaret Studer 2011

  • If Alain Ducasse's tranquil, elegant country hotel, a former ducal summer palace from the 16th century, feels more "south of France" than "Maremma," you don't much care: It is exceedingly comfortable in its own crisp, modern fashion.

    The Other Tuscany Richard Nalley 2010

Comments

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  • "This story was about a wake - all his juiciest stories were about wakes - and a tired woman getting jealous of the corpse in the bed. He was so pleased with Nancy's attention that he was dramatising even more than usual, and I stood silent in the kitchen door for several minutes with a ducal air of scorn before he even noticed me."

    - Frank O'Connor, 'The Duke's Children'.

    September 5, 2008

  • "The ducal hat of Charles the Rash, the last Duke of Burgundy of his race, was hung with pear-shaped pearls and studded with sapphires."

    -Oscar Wilde, "The Picture of Dorian Gray".

    January 17, 2010