From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Duke \Duke\ (d[=u]k), noun [F. duc, fr. L. dux, ducis, leader, commander, fr. ducere to lead; akin to AS. te['o]n to draw; cf. AS. heretoga (here army) an army leader, general, G. herzog duke. See {Tue}, and cf. {Doge}, {Duchess}, {Ducat}, {Duct}, {Adduce}, {Deduct}.]
1. A leader; a chief; a prince. [Obs.]
Hannibal, duke of Carthage. --Sir T. Elyot.
All were dukes once, who were ''duces'' -- captains or leaders of their people. --Trench.
2. In England, one of the highest order of nobility after princes and princesses of the royal blood and the four archbishops of England and Ireland.
3. In some European countries, a sovereign prince, without the title of king.
4. pl. The fists; as, put up your dukes. [slang] [PJC]
{Duke's coronet}. See Illust. of {Coronet}.
{To dine with Duke Humphrey}, to go without dinner. See under {Dine}.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Duke \Duke\ (d[=u]k) verb (used without an object) To play the duke. [Poetic]
Lord Angelo dukes it well in his absence. -- Shak.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
duke \duke\ (d[=u]k) verb (used with an object) To beat with the fists. [slang] [PJC]
{to duke it out} to fight; -- usually implying, to fight with the fists; to settle a dispute by fighting with the fists. See duke, noun sense 4. [PJC]
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: a British peer of the highest rank
2: a nobleman (in various countries) of high rank
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
39 Moby Thesaurus words for "duke": Brahman, archduke, aristocrat, armiger, baron, baronet, blue blood, count, daimio, earl, esquire, gentleman, grand duke, grandee, hidalgo, lace-curtain, laird, landgrave, lord, lordling, magnate, magnifico, margrave, marquis, noble, nobleman, optimate, palsgrave, patrician, peer, seigneur, seignior, silk-stocking, squire, swell, thoroughbred, upper-cruster, viscount, waldgrave
From U.S. Gazetteer (1990) [gazetteer]:
Duke, MO Zip code(s): 65461 Duke, OK Zip code(s): 73532
From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:
Duke derived from the Latin dux, meaning "a leader;" Arabic, "a sheik." This word is used to denote the phylarch or chief of a tribe (Gen. 36:15-43; Ex. 15:15; 1 Chr. 1:51-54).
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Let's see what we can do if we put our heads together.
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