Sov″er‐eign (? or?; 277), n. 1. The person, body, or state in which independent and supreme authority is vested; especially, in a monarchy, a king, queen, or emperor.
No question is to be made but that the bed of the Mississippi belongs to the sovereign, that is, to the nation. Jefferson.
2. A gold coin of Great Britain, on which an effigy of the head of the reigning king or queen is stamped, valued at one pound sterling, or about $4.86.
3. (Zoöl.) Any butterfly of the tribe Nymphalidi, or genus Basilarchia, as the ursula and the viceroy.
Syn. — King; prince; monarch; potentate; emperor.