subs. phr. (old).One who controls or compels a king; a king-maker.
1610. HOLLAND, Camden, 570. From the death of this yoong Earle of Warwicke this title lay asleepe, which King Henry the Eighth feared as a fire-brand of the State, by reason of the combustion which that Richard Nevil, that WHIP-KING (as some tearmed him) had raised.