king's mann.
/ˈkɪŋz man/, U.S. /ˈkɪŋz ˌmæn/ 1.
a. A supporter or follower of a king, esp. a royalist. Also: spec. a supporter of the infant King James VI of Scotland, as opposed to Mary, Queen of Scots, during the civil war in Scotland (1568–73). Now historical.In early use often: a feudal vassal of a king (cf. quots. eOE, OE).
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society > authority > rule or government > politics > political philosophy > principles of or attachment to types of government > [noun] > monarchism > adherent of
king's maneOE
regalist?1591
kingling1603
royalist1605
monarchist1640
regiana1652
basilean1655
eOE Let. to Edward the Elder (Sawyer 1445) in N. P. Brooks & S. E. Kelly Charters of Christ Church Canterbury, Pt. 2 (2013) 854 Mon gerehte ðæt yrfe cinge forðon he wæs cinges mon.
OE Laws of Cnut (Nero) i. viii. §2. 292 Fo se landhlaford to healfum, to healfum se bisceop, si hit ciningces mann, se hit þegnes.
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1978) l. 9884 Þat hired isah þat sorhȝen of þan kinge & of þas kinges monnen þe mid attre weoren for-done.
c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) l. 2430 The kinges men..Scuten on hem, heye and lowe, And euerilk fot of hem slowe.
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) l. 7952 Hii wipinne turnde aȝen & hom alle nome & þe kinges men echone In strong prison caste.
1418 in H. Nicolas Proc. & Ordinances Privy Council (1834) II. 352 He wot þat þerl of Armaignac and þe Lord le Bret been fully condescended to be þe Kinges men.
1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) ix. 131 The kingis men..thame apparalit Till defend, gif thai thame assalit.
1569 R. Grafton Chron. II. 333 Euer as they went, they sayde they were the Kings men, and the seruauntes of the noble Commons of England.
a1639 J. Spottiswood Hist. Church Scotl. (1655) v. 253 One [party] professing to be the Kings men, another the Queens.
1660 Hist. 2nd Death Rump 1/1 Two Kings-men Last week to the Country did gallop.
1770 E. Burke Thoughts Present Discontents 27 The name by which they chuse to distinguish themselves, is that of King's men, or the King's friends.
1825 C. Waterton Wanderings in S. Amer. iv. 274 Jew or Gentile, king's-man or republican, he meets with a friendly reception in the United States.
1862 W. Hunter Biggar & House of Fleming xxviii. 357 In the year 1571..the people of Scotland were divided into two inveterate factions, called respectively Queensmen and Kingsmen.
1940 Times 6 Feb. 11/7 Lord Craigavon..described Ulster as..a link that would neither break nor bend before the King's enemies. ‘We are King's men,’ he said. ‘We will be with you to the end.’
1977 W. Ferguson Scotland's Relations Eng. v. 88 His kingdom..was rent by a fierce civil war between the king's men and the followers of Mary.
2014 A. J. Mann James VII ii. 59 Sir John Grenville, a king's man who had been a clandestine intermediary for royalist plotters.
b. In plural. With the. Frequently with capital initial(s). (The name of) a company of actors under the patronage of James I of England (James VI of Scotland), for whom William Shakespeare wrote for most of his career. Now historical.The company (also known as ‘the King's Majesty's Servants’), was founded in 1594 as ‘the Lord Chamberlain's Men’, and was renamed in 1603 when the new king of England, James I, became patron.
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society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > actor > [noun] > company of actors > specific company
Children of the Revels1604
king's men1613
1613 R. Daborne Let. 29 Oct. in P. Henslowe Papers (1907) 76 They shall have the play or noe, they rale vpon me I hear bycause the kingsmen hav given out they shall hav it.
1831 J. P. Collier Hist. Eng. Dramatic Poetry III. 423 The competition of other companies, and particularly of ‘the King's men’, who played at the Globe, is frequently alluded to in these documents.
1886 Dict. National Biogr. VII. 286/1 He had been connected with the lord chamberlain's men, subsequently called the king's men, and originally called Lord Strange's company.
1923 E. K. Chambers Elizabethan Stage II. 218 The King's men gave eight plays at Court..during the winter of 1614–15.
1951 M. Chute Shakespeare of London xi. 233 The King's Men gave a Sunday production of The Merry Wives of Windsor.
2012 Notes & Queries Mar. 92/1 Her assigned residence was no other than Blackfriars, next to where the King's Men were performing their plays during the winter season.
c. U.S. A person who supported the British cause at the time of the American War of Independence (1775–83). Now historical.
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society > authority > rule or government > politics > American politics > [noun] > support of British side in War of Independence > supporter
Tory1769
royalist1777
refugee1780
king's man1787
1787 Eng. Rev. Aug. 124 In the interior parts of the state, king's-men and congress-men were names of distinction.
1809 P. M. Freneau Poems (ed. 3) II. 11 Whate'er some angry king's-men say, You play a game that must be won.
1857 Ladies' Repository Feb. 83/1 I never feed kingsmen if I can help it.
1949 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 2 Apr. 98/4 I am neither king's man nor rebel.
2006 T. P. Savas & J. D. Dameron Guide to Battles of Amer. Revol. (2010) 27 Knowing they were not as strong as their Patriot opponents, however, the Tories or ‘King's Men’ did not aggressively seek to fight as an army.
2. A member of King's College, Cambridge.
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society > education > member of university > [noun] > (former) specific university or college
mountainer?a1425
Cantabrigianc1540
Oxonianc1540
Sorbonist1560
Oxford man1590
Oxfordian1645
Johnian1655
hog1690
Harvardian1702
squil1721
Cantab1751
king's man1751
Wadhamite1760
Princetonian1807
Brunonian1829
merchant tailor1829
Trinitarian1852
houseman1868
polytechnician1871
Mertonian1883
Cheltonian1887
Girtonian1887
Girtonite1894
Newnhamite1896
woman1896
normalien1904
Somervillian1904
Orangeman1908
Tab1914
Ivy Leaguer1943
Oxbridgean1959
plate-glasser1968
Yalie1969
1751 Student 2 No. 4. 151 Ev'n gloomiest King's-Men, pleas'd awhile, ‘Grin horribly a ghastly smile’.
1852 C. A. Bristed Five Years Eng. University (ed. 2) 127 He came out the winner, with the Kingsman and one of our three close at his heels.
1936 Times 24 Oct. 8/1 An Etonian and a King's man, and one who spent his whole life at Cambridge.
1973 Observer 1 July 32/3 He was a fellow of King's College, Cambridge..and immediately after his death he received what must have been regarded by most Kingsmen as the ultimate accolade.
2003 N. Wollaston My Father, Sandy vi. 186 The flag flew at half-mast over the college.., the shock spread quickly to old Kingsmen, aghast and helpless.
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society > trade and finance > fees and taxes > impost, due, or tax > duty on goods > imposition or collecting of duties on goods > [noun] > customs house or tollbooth > custom-house officer
customary1494
jerquer1706
douanier1739
king's man1814
liquidators of vessels1884
1814 W. Scott Diary 25 Aug. in J. G. Lockhart Mem. Life Scott (1837) III. vii. 233 We observed a hurry among the inhabitants, owing to our being as usual suspected for king's men.
1824 J. Mactaggart Sc. Gallovidian Encycl. 362 He was one of the greatest smugglers on..the Solway, and outwitted the most sagacious kingsmen.
4. Originally slang. Usually as one word. A silk handkerchief or neckerchief, esp. one traditionally worn by costermongers in the 19th cent. Now historical.Cf. waterman n. 7, yellow man n. 2.
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1839 H. Brandon Dict. Flash or Cant Lang. in W. A. Miles Poverty, Mendicity & Crime 166/2 Flash names for silk pocket handkerchiefs..Green King's-man, any pattern on a green ground.
1851 H. Mayhew London Labour I. 51/1 The man who does not wear his silk neckerchief—his ‘King's-man’ as it is called—is known to be in desperate circumstances.
1858 A. Mayhew Paved with Gold ii. i. 70 We can't even do a kingsman (silk handkerchief) in a day, let alone a skin or a soup (a purse or watch).
1975 Times 29 Apr. 7/1 Most important were the stout boots and their kingsman, the silk handkerchief, preferably in the brightest colours, worn around the neck.
2005 L. Picard Victorian London (2007) xiv. 163 Costerwomen wore a black velveteen or straw bonnet.., a silk Kingsman, and a printed cotton gown.
5. British Army. Now usually as one word. Originally: a member of the King's Regiment (now historical). In later use usually spec.: (a title for) a private soldier in the King's Regiment or (since 2006) the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment.The regiment formed in 1685 as Princess Anne of Denmark's Regiment of Foot became the King's Regiment of Foot in 1715. In 2006 the King's Regiment was amalgamated with the King's Own Royal Border Regiment and the Queen's Lancashire Regiment to form the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment.
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society > armed hostility > warrior > soldier > soldier of specific force or unit > [noun]
spahi1562
legionnaire1595
strelitz1603
Croat1623
deli1667
Croatian1700
lancer1712
highlander1725
lambs1744
royals1762
light-bob1778
fly-slicer1785
Life Guardsman1785
royals?1795
Hottentot1796
yeoman1798
pandour1800
Faugh-a-Ballaghsc1811
forty-two man1816
kilty1842
Zouave1848
bumblerc1850
Inniskilliner1853
blue cap1857
turco1860
Zou-Zou1860
mudlark1878
king's man1883
Johnny1888
Piffer1892
evzone1897
horse gunner1897
dink1906
army ranger1910
grognard1912
Jock1914
chocolate soldier1915
Cook's tourist1915
dinkum1916
Anzaca1918
choc1917
ranger1942
Chindit1943
Desert Rat1944
Green Beret1949
1883 F. J. Whalley in R. Cannon Hist. Rec. King's Liverpool Regiment of Foot (ed. 2) ii. 194 The little band of King's men found themselves within eight hundred yards of the battery defending the pass.
1916 Broad Arrow 22 Nov. 489/2 The South African War, which all King's men know has been quite satisfactorily explained.
1949 Times 11 Nov. 1/2 Their Comrades remember with pride and gratitude all Kingsmen who gave their lives in the Great War 1914-1919.
1990 Press Assoc. Newswire (Nexis) 25 Oct. The loss of their 23-year-old Kingsman son in yesterday's Londonderry bomb blast.
2016 Liverpool Echo (Nexis) 7 July (Features section) 4 Kingsman Jones served with the 2nd Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, after joining the Army in 2003.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2017; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.eOE