Definitions

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

  • noun A man who is the governor of a country, province, or colony, ruling as the representative of a sovereign.
  • noun An orange and black North American butterfly (Limenitis archippus), resembling but somewhat smaller than the monarch.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A vice-king; the governor of a kingdom or colony, who rules in the name of the king (or queen), as the deputy of the sovereign: as, the viceroy of India or of Ireland.
  • noun The archippus, a handsomely colored American butterfly, Basilarchia archippus, formerly known as Limenitis disippus.

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

  • noun The governor of a country or province who rules in the name of the sovereign with regal authority, as the king's substitute.
  • noun (Zoöl.) A large and handsome American butterfly (Basilarchia archippus syn. Limenitis archippus). Its wings are orange-red, with black lines along the nervures and a row of white spots along the outer margins. The larvæ feed on willow, poplar, and apple trees.

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

  • noun One who governs a country, province, or colony as the representative of a monarch.
  • noun An orange and black North American butterfly (Limenitis archippus), so named because it is similar to, but smaller than, the monarch butterfly.

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

  • noun showy American butterfly resembling the monarch but smaller
  • noun governor of a country or province who rules as the representative of his or her king or sovereign

Etymologies

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

[French : vice-, vice; see vicereine + roi, king (from Latin rēx, rēg-; see reg- in Indo-European roots).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle French vice-roy, from vice- + roy ("king").

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