Sun Kingn.
/ˈsʌn kɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈsən ˌkɪŋ/ 1. With the. An informal title of: Louis XIV, King of France from 1643 to 1715. Cf. roi soleil n. 1.
ΚΠ
1871 Ladies' Repository Aug. 107/1 The apartments at Versailles and Fontainebleau still retain some splendid specimens of the magnificence of the ‘Sun King’.
1939 O. Lancaster Homes Sweet Homes 26 Few of his fellow-sovereigns enjoyed the robust health of the Sun King.
2016 Sunday Times (Nexis) 29 May (Culture section) The nobility were thus obliged to base themselves at Versailles, and found that the Sun King had created a gilded cage in which he trapped those who might act against him.
2. A person who has a dominance or pre-eminence comparable to that of Louis XIV. Cf. roi soleil n. 2.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > pre-eminence > [noun] > chief of its or his kind
sunOE
lordOE
princec1225
primatec1384
princessc1390
giant1535
queen1554
first gentleman1584
Prester John1598
arch1605
gigant1610
principate1651
top-stone1659
first lady1677
Shakespeare1821
king1829
prius1882
aristocrat1883
Sun King1971
1971 Illustr. London News 17 Apr. 15/1 The Sun King of the theatre.
1977 Time 8 Aug. 37/1 Yves Saint Laurent, the Sun King of fashion.
2007 Independent (Nexis) 2 May 2 He was once called the ‘Sun King’ of Britain's oil industry, a ‘fat cat’ businessman feted by the City who enjoyed the personal blessing of the Prime Minister.
Compounds
attributive, designating hair or a wig in the long, voluminous, and curly style typically worn by Louis XIV, as Sun King wig.Use of Louis XIV in the same way, e.g. Louis XIV wig, is also found.
ΚΠ
1976 N. Thornburg Cutter & Bone xi. 258 The women were heavy and overdressed, with elaborate Sun King coiffeurs [sic].
1996 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 28 Jan. ii. 5/5 James is shadowed by a jauntily menacing older man who seems more demonic than human (Tony Torn in a curly white Sun King wig).
2006 L. A. Jacobs Landscape with Moving Figures 36 I've never forgotten the hopefulness of Ashton's shy sister, her long horse face and Sun King wig.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, January 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1871