Definitions

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

  • noun A staff held by a sovereign as an emblem of authority.
  • noun Ruling power or authority; sovereignty.
  • transitive verb To invest with royal authority.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A staff of office of the character accepted as peculiar to royalty or independent sovereignty.
  • noun Royal power or authority: as, to assume the scepter.
  • To give a scepter to; invest with royal authority, or with the emblem of authority.
  • noun A common name for the gold sovereign of James I. of England.

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

  • noun A staff or baton borne by a sovereign, as a ceremonial badge or emblem of authority; a royal mace.
  • noun Hence, royal or imperial power or authority; sovereignty.
  • transitive verb To endow with the scepter, or emblem of authority; to invest with royal authority.

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

  • noun an ornamental staff held by a ruling monarch as a symbol of power
  • verb To give a scepter to.

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

  • noun a ceremonial or emblematic staff
  • noun the imperial authority symbolized by a scepter

Etymologies

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

[Middle English sceptre, from Old French, from Latin scēptrum, from Greek skēptron.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Old French sceptre, from Latin sceptrum, from Ancient Greek σκήπτρον (skeptron) "staff, stick, baton", from σκήπτω (skepto) "to prop, to support, to lean upon a staff"

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