Related:

• RANK, n. Relative elevation in the scale of human worth.
  He held at court a rank so high That other noblemen asked why....
• ABDICATION, n. An act whereby a sovereign attests his sense of the high temperature of the throne.
  Poor Isabella's Dead, whose abdication Set all tongues wagging in the Spanish nation....
• LOSS, n. Privation of that which we had, or had not.
  Thus, in the latter sense, it is said of a defeated candidate that he "lost his electio...
• CABBAGE, n. A familiar kitchen-garden vegetable about as large and wise as a man's head.
  The cabbage is so called from Cabagius, a prince who on ascending the throne issued a decree appointing a High Council of Empire consisting of the members of his predecessor's Ministry and the cabbages in the royal garden....
• KING, n. A male person commonly known in America as a "crowned head," although he never wears a crown and has usually no head to speak of.
  A king, in times long, long gone by, Said to his lazy jeste...
• LAUREL, n. The _laurus_, a vegetable dedicated to Apollo, and formerly defoliated to wreathe the brows of victors and such poets as had influence at court.
  (_Vide supra._) -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary...
• FAIRY, n. A creature, variously fashioned and endowed, that formerly inhabited the meadows and forests.
  It was nocturnal in its habits, and somewhat addicted to dancing and the theft of children....
• REFUGE, n. Anything assuring protection to one in peril.
  Moses and Joshua provided six cities of refuge -- Bezer, Golan, Ramoth, Kadesh, Schekem and Hebron -- to which one who had taken life inadvertently could flee when hunted by relatives of the deceased....
• ABSOLUTE, adj. Independent, irresponsible. An absolute monarchy is one in which the sovereign does as he pleases so long as he pleases the assassins.
  Not many absolute monarchies are left, most of them having been replaced by limited monarchies, where the sovereign's power for evil (and for good) is greatly curtailed, and by republics, which are governed by chance....