[f. KING sb. + -SHIP; cf. MDu. conincscap (Du. koningschap), G. königschaft. OE. had cynescipe (see KINE-). The early occurrence of the word in one MS. of Cursor Mundi is remarkable.]
1. The office and dignity of a king; the fact of being king; reign.
c. 1325. Cursor M., 8583 (Cott.). In his kingscip [Fairf., Trin. kingdome; Gött. king-riche] þe fourte [other MSS. forme, former] daus, O-mang his folk he sett his laus.
1642. Sir E. Dering, Sp. Relig., 96. The Kingship and Priestship of every particular man.
1765. Blackstone, Comm., I. vii. 249. Immediately upon the decease of the reigning prince … his kingship or imperial dignity … is vested at once in his heir.
1869. Freeman, Norm. Conq., III. xiv. 374. The few days of life and kingship which still were his.
fig. 1865. Ruskin, Sesame, 121. The kingship … which consists in a stronger moral state … than that of others.
2. The rule of a king; monarchical government.
1648. Eikon Bas., x. 78. They designed, and proposed to me the new modelling of Soveraignty and Kingship.
1692. South, 12 Serm. (1697), I. 409. While his army believed him real in his Zeal against Kingship.
1840. Carlyle, Heroes, vi. In rebellious ages, when Kingship itself seems dead and abolished, Cromwell, Napoleon step forth again as Kings.
3. With poss. pron.: The personality of a king; (his) royal majesty. Also fig.
1648. Herrick, Hesper., Past. Birth Pr. Chas. I a sheephook will bestow To have his little King-ship know, As he is prince, he’s shepherd too.
1660. A. Sadler, Subjects Joy, 28.
| Though Horse, and Chariots, and his fifty Boyes, | |
| Do run before his Kingship:—All, are Toyes. |
1832. J. Wilson, in Blackw. Mag., XXXI. 870. Then shall we skirt his kingship [Scafell] all the way to the head of Seathwaite Tarn.
1861. Du Chaillu, Equat. Afr., xii. 183. His ebony kingship.
4. The dominion or territory of a king.
1864. Dasent, Jest & Earnest (1873), II. 158. So long as countries are split into small kingships, and each valley has its chief.
