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.
In 1661, after a period of melancholy derangement, he believed that God had given him power of curing "king's evil" by touching or stroking and prayer.
From Three Thousand Years of Mental Healing by Cutten, George Barton
In the postscript he adds an account of a well, which by washing, wrought a cure on a person deep in the king’s evil.
From Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 3 by Disraeli, Isaac
He was the first of our princes that attempted to cure the king's evil by touching.
From The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D. — Volume 10 Historical Writings by Swift, Jonathan
Sometimes the cost of a journey to London was defrayed by the parish in order to enable a sufferer to be touched for the king’s evil.
From English Villages by Ditchfield, P. H. (Peter Hampson)
A still more ominous sign was that he ventured to touch for the king's evil.
From Micah Clarke His Statement as made to his three grandchildren Joseph, Gervas and Reuben During the Hard Winter of 1734 by Doyle, Arthur Conan, 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.
