Definitions

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

  • noun The elected chief magistrate of the former republics of Venice and Genoa.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The title of the chief magistrate of the old republics of Venice and Genoa.

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

  • noun The chief magistrate in the republics of Venice and Genoa.

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

  • noun historical The chief magistrate in the republics of Venice and Genoa.

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

  • noun formerly the chief magistrate in the republics of Venice and Genoa

Etymologies

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

[Italian dialectal, from Latin dux, duc-, leader, from dūcere, to lead; see deuk- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Venetian or Italian doge, from Latin ducem, accusative of dux ("leader, prince").

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Examples

  • A variant of duke was the medieval title doge, for the ruler of independent cities such as Genoa and

    Salem-News.com 2010

  • The Council of Ten referred to the doge as ίl vecchίo ίdίota— the old idiot—and they were so certain of his ineptitude that they never took a moment to look beyond the trembling hands and quivering chin which held steady enough when he dined alone.

    The Book of Unholy Mischief Elle Newmark 2008

  • The Council of Ten referred to the doge as ίl vecchίo ίdίota— the old idiot—and they were so certain of his ineptitude that they never took a moment to look beyond the trembling hands and quivering chin which held steady enough when he dined alone.

    The Book of Unholy Mischief Elle Newmark 2008

  • The Council of Ten referred to the doge as ίl vecchίo ίdίota— the old idiot—and they were so certain of his ineptitude that they never took a moment to look beyond the trembling hands and quivering chin which held steady enough when he dined alone.

    The Chef’s Apprentice Elle Newmark 2008

  • The Council of Ten referred to the doge as ίl vecchίo ίdίota— the old idiot—and they were so certain of his ineptitude that they never took a moment to look beyond the trembling hands and quivering chin which held steady enough when he dined alone.

    The Chef’s Apprentice Elle Newmark 2008

  • The Council of Ten referred to the doge as ίl vecchίo ίdίota— the old idiot—and they were so certain of his ineptitude that they never took a moment to look beyond the trembling hands and quivering chin which held steady enough when he dined alone.

    The Book of Unholy Mischief Elle Newmark 2008

  • Merchant of Venice or Venice, California) If you use a term like "doge", you get a few more, so perhaps poking around the search engine can shake more images loose.

    Veniceblog: 2005

  • Merchant of Venice or Venice, California) If you use a term like "doge", you get a few more, so perhaps poking around the search engine can shake more images loose.

    NYPL Digital Archives 2005

  • There are no knickknacks or tchotchkes—just that marvelous old doge looming over the fireplace.

    Monastic Fantastic Jen Renzi 2011

  • Imperial officials were bound by strict rules designed to prevent disloyalty and corruption; even the doge was "expressly barred from accepting gifts of any value from a foreign agency."

    The Doges of War William H. McNeill 2012

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  • "Throughout the Exarchate of Ravenna the rebellious garrisons … chose their own commanders and asserted their independence. In the lagoon communities, their choice fell on a certain Ursus, or Orso, from Heraclea, who was placed at the head of the former provincial administration and given the title of Dux.

         "There was nothing especially remarkable about this last development…. What distinguishes Venice from the rest is the fact that Orso's appointment inaugurated a tradition which was to continue, unbroken, for over a thousand years; and that his title, transformed by the rough Venetian dialect into Doge, was to pass down through 117 successors before the Republic's end."

    – John Julius Norwich, A History of Venice (London: Penguin, 2003), 13.

    August 17, 2008