Duke

Duke

A duke (male) or duchess (female) can either be a monarch ruling over a duchy or a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch. The title comes from French duc, itself from the Latin dux, 'leader', a term used in republican Rome to refer to a military commander without an official rank (particularly one of Germanic or Celtic origin), and later coming to mean the leading military commander of a province.

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Famous quotes containing the word duke:

    For the man who should loose me is dead,
    Fighting with the Duke in Flanders,
    In a pattern called a war.
    Christ! What are patterns for?
    Amy Lowell (1874–1925)

    Hume’s doctrine was that the circumstances vary, the amount of happiness does not; that the beggar cracking fleas in the sunshine under a hedge, and the duke rolling by in his chariot; the girl equipped for her first ball, and the orator returning triumphant from the debate, had different means, but the same quantity of pleasant excitement.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    The faults of the burglar are the qualities of the financier: the manners and habits of a duke would cost a city clerk his situation.
    George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)