king's evil
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of king's evil
1350–1400; Middle English kynges evel
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
As the French language does not contain any such word as estroilles, there can be no doubt that it stands for old French escroilles, or the king's evil.
From Literary Blunders by Wheatley, Henry Benjamin
Curing the "king's evil" was one of the oldest attributes of royalty, and it could not be imagined that it would descend to an impostor.
From The Age of the Reformation by Smith, Preserved
It was formerly believed that a seventh son could cure diseases, and that a seventh son of a seventh son, with no female born in between, could cure the king's evil.
From Byways of Ghost-Land by O'Donnell, Elliott
A more raffish place was the Dog and Duck in St. George's Fields, which boasted mineral springs, good for gout, stone, king's evil, sore eyes, and inveterate cancers.
From In the Name of the Bodleian and Other Essays by Birrell, Augustine
The lady was Queen Anne, to whom, in compliance with a superstition just dying a natural death, he had been taken by his mother to be touched for the king's evil.
From Samuel Johnson by Stephen, Leslie, Sir
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
