Priest-king

Origin

From priest + king

Full definition of priest-king

Noun

1. A sacred king, a monarch with prominent religious attributes.
• 1606, J. Sylvester translating G. de S. Du Bartas as Deuine Weekes & Wks., ii. iv. iii. 169The while this Priest-King sacrifiz'd To's clov'n-foot God in Bethel (self-devis'd).
• 1920, H.G. Wells, Outl. Hist., iii. xix. 124/2The beginnings of organized war, first as a bickering between villages, and then as a more disciplined struggle between the priest-king and god of one city and those of another.
2. A theocrat, a sovereign high priest.
• 1877, J.E. Carpenter translating C.P. Tiele as Outl. Hist. Relig., 55Lower Egypt throws off the yoke of the priest-Kings of Thebes (Egypt).
• 1995 September 21, N.Y. Times Review of Books, 32/1He was more like a priest-king, a combination of the Pope and a constitutional monarch.