sb. Also 6 soltane, 6–7 soltan, sultane, 7 soultan, sultain(e, sulthan, 8–9 sultaun. [a. F. sultan (from 16th c.) or ad. med.L. sultānus, ad. Arab. sulṭān king, sovereign, queen, power, dominion; cf. med.Gr. σουλτάνος, Pr., Sp. sultan, It. sultano, Pg. sultão. See also the doublet SOLDAN.]
1. The sovereign or chief ruler of a Mohammedan country; in recent times, spec. the sovereign of Turkey. Also formerly, a prince or king’s son, a high officer.
1555. Eden, Decades (Arb.), 63, marg. The Soltane of Alcayr in Egypte. Ibid., 329. Amonge the Tartars,… Chan, signifieth a kynge, Soltan, the soonne of a kynge.
1596. Shaks., Merch. V., II. i. 26. A Persian Prince That won three fields of Sultan Solyman.
1617. Moryson, Itin., I. 66. Vpon that side the Sultan of the Turkes incamped.
1634. Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 36. Most of [the Mogul of Surat’s] Sultans and Captaines are by birth Persians.
1667. Milton, P. L., XI. 395. Where The Persian in Ecbatan sate,… or the Sultan in Bizance.
1703. Lond. Gaz., No. 3942/1. Sultan Mahomet, eldest Son of the Grand Signior.
1765. Blackstone, Comm., I. vii. 260. In Turkey, where every thing is centered in the sultan or his ministers.
1844. H. H. Wilson, Brit. India, I. 365. Among these chiefs, one of the most powerful was the Sultan of Yodhyakarta.
1884. Pall Mall Gaz., 29 Feb., 1/2. The Sultan of Turkey is the best hated man throughout his dominions.
b. Taken as a type of magnificence; also attrib.
1864. Allingham, Lawrence Bloomfield, xii. 648. The billowy hills, cloud-shadow’d, roll’d Like spotted sultan-serpent, fold on fold.
1901. Westm. Gaz., 16 Dec., 12/1. Tennyson … said he considered Norfolk turkeys the very Sultans of their breed.
c. Used with allusion to an Eastern ruler’s harem; also attrib.
1872. Coues, N. Amer. Birds, 229. The sultan of the dunghill with his disciplined harem.
1887. Bowen, Virg. Ecl., VII. 7. Our sultan goat [L. vir gregis ipse caper].
2. An absolute ruler; gen. a despot, tyrant.
1648. J. Beaumont, Psyche, VIII. ccxii. The rouzéd Grot its awful Sultan [sc. Lucifer] knew.
1662. Winstanley, Loyal Martyrol. (1665), 38. Their Sultan Cromwell.
1719. Young, Revenge, II. i. Love reigns a sultan with unrival’d sway.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, xx. He would be generous-minded, Sultan as he was, and raise up this kneeling Esther.
1855. Tennyson, Maud, I. XX. i. The Sultan, as we name him.
3. (orig. † sultan(’s) flower.) Either of two species of sweet-scented annuals, brought originally from the East, usually distinguished as the purple or white sweet sultan, Centaurea (Amberboa) moschata, and the yellow (sweet) sultan, C. (A.) suaveolens.
1629. Parkinson, Parad., 327. Cyanus floridus Turcicus. The Sultans flower.
1688. Holme, Armoury, II. iv. 64/2. The Sultans flower is purple, and the Thrume almost white.
1753. Chambers’ Cycl., Suppl., App., Sultan-flower, a name sometimes used for the cyanus, or blue bottle.
1664. Evelyn, Kal. Hort., June, 69. Flowers, in Prime, or yet lasting,… Sultans.
1731. Miller, Gard. Dict., s.v. Cyanus, The yellow sweet Sultan.
1786. Abercrombie, Gard. Assist., 116. Many different sorts [of annuals]: such as … sweet sultan.
1871. Morris, in Mackail, Life (1899), I. 238. Those sweet sultans are run very much to leaf.
4. A small white-crested species of domestic fowl, originally brought from Turkey. Also attrib.
1855. Poultry Chron., II. 526. Sultan Cockerel and Two Pullets, quite new, £5.
1885. Encycl. Brit., XIX. 645/2.
5. In full sultan hen, etc. (F. poule sultane): = SULTANA 6.
1882. ‘Ouida,’ Maremma, I. 149. The innumerable pools and streams … which are … known only to the sultan-hen and the wild duck.
1884. Coues, N. Amer. Birds, 675. Ionornis, Sultan Gallinules.
6. attrib. and Comb., as sultan-like adj. and adv.; sultan-bird (see quot.); sultan pink, red, a rich dull pink, red; † sultan(’s) flower (see 3). (See also senses above.)
1899. A. H. Evans, Birds, 539. Parus may be glossy greenish-black and yellow, as in the *Sultan-bird (P. sullaneus).
1697. H. St. John, To Dryden, in D.’s Virg. So, *Sultan-like in your Seraglio stand.
1821. Scott, Pirate, xxxix. An arrogant pretender to the favour of the sisters of Burgh-Westra, who only hesitated, sultan-like, on whom he should bestow the handkerchief.
1837. Lett. fr. Madras (1843), 48. A turbaned sultan-like creature.
1899. Daily News, 21 Oct., 7/7. Some such colour as *Sultan pink or tapestry blue.
Mod. Advt. The World’s Classics … Published in … *Sultan-red Leather.
Hence Sultan v. intr., to rule as a sultan, play the despot, tyrannize.
1886. Burton, Arab. Nts. (abr. ed.), III. 409. Here Janshah abode, Sultaning over them for a year and a half.
