Forms: α. 3–6 trone, (4 tron, tronne, 4–5 troone, 4–6 Sc. trown, trowne, 5 troyne, 5–6 Sc. troune, 6 Sc. trune). β. 3– throne, (4 thron, 6–7 throan). [a. OF. trone (12th c. in Godef., Compl.), mod.F. trône, ad. L. thron-us, a. Gr. θρόνος an elevated seat.]
1. The seat of state of a potentate or dignitary; esp. the seat occupied by a sovereign on state occasions; formerly often an elaborate elevated structure, richly ornamented; now a more or less ornate chair, with a footstool, usually placed upon a dais and standing under a canopy.
α. a. 1240. Sawles Warde, in Cott. Hom., 259. Sitten in a trone se swiðe briht wid ȝimmes i-stirret.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 93/35. Þe Aumperour sat In is trone.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 9944 (Cott.). Wit-in þis tour … Es sett a tron [Gött. trone].
c. 1425. Cast. Persev., 459, in Macro Plays, 91. Mundus. Now I sytte in my semly sale; I trotte & tremle in my trew trone…. Kyng, knyth & kayser, to me makyn mone.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot. (Rolls), I. 94. Brutell beistis set vp in ane trune [rhyme mune].
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VI., 177. The trone royall, vnder the clothe of estate.
β. 1390. Gower, Conf., III. 167. Wher he was in his real Throne.
c. 1400. Maundev. (1839), xx. 217. The Emperoures throne fulle high, where he sytteth at the mete.
1570. Levins, Manip., 168/10. A Throne, thronus, ni.
1591. Drayton, Harmonie of Ch. (Percy Soc.), 20. See where Salomon is set In royal throan.
1611. Bible, Matt. xix. 28. Ye also shal sit vpon twelue thrones, iudging the twelue tribes of Israel.
1732. Lediard, Sethos, II. VII. 32. A throne of red wood, rais’d by five steps.
1855. Pusey, Doctr. Real Presence, Note S. 390. Make thy left hand as if a throne for thy right.
b. The seat occupied by a pope or bishop on ceremonial occasions.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 457. Þe pope sittiþ in his troone & makiþ lordis to kisse his feet.
a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Huon, lxii. 216. They founde the pope set in his trone.
1726. Ayliffe, Parergon, 121. In those Times, the Bishops preach’d on the Steps of the Altar…, having not as yet assum’d to themselves the Pride and State of a Throne.
1845. M. Pattison, Ess. (1889), I. 15. No chair of dignified ease was a bishop’s throne in the sixth century.
1910. Kelly’s Directory of Oxford. The Cathedral… The bishop’s throne … was erected as a memorial to the late Bishop Wilberforce.
c. A seat provided by portrait-painters for their sitters: see quot. 1859.
1838. Dickens, Nich. Nick., x. A very faded chair raised upon a very dusty throne in Miss La Creevy’s room.
1859. Gullick & Timbs, Paint., 199. The Throne is the name portrait painters give the chair provided for their ‘sitters,’ from the circumstance of its being placed on a raised daïs covered usually with red cloth.
2. As the seat of a deity, esp. of God or Christ.
The throne of grace or simply the throne, the mercy-seat, the place where God is conceived as seated to answer prayer.
α. a. 1240. Ureisun, in Cott. Hom., 191. Þu ert hore blostme biuoren godes trone.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xviii. (Egipciane), 794. Þu sittis with god in til his trowne.
1382. Wyclif, Heb. iv. 16. Therfore go we with trist to the trone of his grace.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. II. 134. Þe trone þat trinite ynne sitteþ.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., I. (1495), 8. Cryste Iesus … syttyng in his trone of jugement.
1508. Fisher, 7 Penit. Ps., vi. Wks. (1876), 9. Euery man & woman shall stande before the trone of almyghty god.
1526. Tindale, Rev. xiv. 5. They are with outen spott before the trone off God.
1559. Mirr. Mag. (1563), V iij. The trone of mighty Jove.
β. c. 1290. Beket, 2304, in S. Eng. Leg., I. 172. Bi-fore ore louerd sone … ase he sat in is throne.
1552. Bk. Com. Prayer, Morn. Pr., Exhort. The throne of the heauenlie grace.
1662. Gurnall, Chr. in Arm., verse 17. xiii. III. 101. It sends them to the Throne of Grace.
c. 1765. M. Bruce, Hymn, ‘Where high [etc.],’ vi. With boldness, therefore, at the throne, Let us make all our sorrows known.
1849. W. K. Tweedie, Life J. MacDonald, 157. It was made a frequent errand to the throne.
1875. Bp. Bickersteth, Hymn, ‘Peace, perfect peace.’ Jesus we know, and He is on the throne.
† 3. In the phrase in (on) throne: enthroned; esp. as said of God or Christ. Obs.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 40. Þi swete blisfule sune … sette þe ine trone.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter, ix. 4. Þou sittis on trone þt demys rightwisnes. Ibid. (1340), Pr. Consc., 5080. Hyde us Fra þe face of hym þat syttes in throne.
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 162. Y swere by cryst in trone.
c. 1440. R. Gloucester’s Chron. (Rolls), App. XX. 446. To king he was iblessed at londone ywis & iset in trone [v.r. ine throne].
c. 1500. New Notbr. Mayd, 464, in Hazl., E. P. P., III. 19. Ye syttynge in throne.
a. 1600. Montgomerie, Misc. Poems, xli. 44. With shyning bright shieldis [As] Titan in trone.
4. fig. A seat or position of dominion or supremacy; spec. in Astrol.: see quot. 1819.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VI., 149 b. This Marques thus gotten vp, into fortunes trone.
1654. R. Whitlock, Ζωοτομια, 361. The Pulpit a Throne of higher Authority … rewarding with Promises of far more elevating Hopes than any earthly one can.
1819. Jas. Wilson, Compl. Dict. Astrol., s.v., Any part of a sign where a planet has two or more testimonies, i. e. essential dignities, is called its throne, chariot, of any other foolish name that comes to hand.
1855. Brewster, Newton, II. xiv. 23. [Leibnitz] had nearly placed himself on the throne which Newton was destined to ascend.
18[?]. B. Taylor, In the Meadows, Poems (1866), 299. The sun on his midday throne.
1892. Henley, Song of Sword, etc., 45. We tracked the winds of the world to the steps of their very thrones.
5. transf. The position, office, or dignity of a sovereign; sovereign power or authority, dominion.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 22122. In þe temple o salamon Þan sal þat traitur sett his tron.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), III. 245. Artarxerses … saued his fader trone and his broþer lyf.
1474. Caxton, Chesse, II. i. (1883), 20. Mysericorde and trouthe conserue and kepe the kynge in his trone.
1534. More, Comf. agst. Trib., II. Wks. 1199/2. I will … set my trone on the sides of ye north.
1593. Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., II. i. 193. The next degree, is Englands Royall Throne.
1696. Phillips (ed. 5), s.v. Throne also Synecdochycally is taken for Supream Command, or Soveraign Authority of those that sit upon the Throne.
1750. Gray, Elegy, 67. To wade through slaughter to a throne.
1848. W. H. Kelly, trans. L. Blanc’s Hist. Ten Y., II. 84. Worthy … of occupying the first place in the state beneath the throne.
1849. Helps, Friends in C., II. i. (1854), I. 267. Mighty thrones and distant empires.
b. Throne and altar, the civil and ecclesiastical systems as established; cf. church and state (CHURCH sb. 18); hence used attrib.
1822. Edin. Rev., XXXVII. 420. The poetical representation of the … Throne-and-Altar class..
1885. Pall Mall G., 12 Jan., 4/2. Two currents ran through the auditory. Gentlemen of high life and throne and altar journalists were hostile. Radical journalists … were brimful of sympathy.
1908. Expositor, June, 558. The guardian of the nation’s throne and altar.
6. transf. Put for the occupant of the throne; the sovereign.
1762. Goldsm., Cit. W., xlii. ‘Here,’ cried he, addressing himself to the throne.
1818. Ld. Althorp, in Parl. Deb., 21. A time when they had to offer their condolence to the throne.
7. (With capital T.) pl. In mediæval angelology, The third of the nine orders of angels (see ORDER sb. 5).
13[?]. Ipotis, 93 (Vern. MS.), in Horstm., Altengl. Leg. (1881), 342. Þe þridde [order] is cleped Trones.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., II. x. (1495), b vj/2. The thyrde Ordre [of angels] is the ordre of Thrones, and hath the name of the yefte of dome, for god syttyth in theym, and yeuyth his domes.
1584. R. Scot, Discov. Witchcr., XV. ii. (1886), 315. Twentie legions of divels, partlie of the order of vertues, & partlie of the order of thrones.
1667. Milton, P. L., V. 601. Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Vertues, Powers.
a. 1711. Ken, Hymnotheo, Poet. Wks. 1721, III. 201. Thrones, who God’s Judgments hear, and then proclaim.
c. 1850. Neale, Hymns East. Ch. (1866), 134. Thrones, Principalities, Virtues, and Powers.
8. attrib. and Comb., as throne adversary, -bearer, -chair, -city, gallery, -power, -rail, -room, -seat, † -sitter, -step; throne-capable, -like, -shattering, -worthy adjs.; throne-born a., born of a sovereign parentage; of royal birth; throne-name, a name given on ascending the throne.
1651. Serm. Coron. Chas. II at Scoon, in Phenix, I. 266. A word of Encouragement against *Throne Adversaries. Your Enemies are the Enemies of the Lord’s Throne.
1855. Bailey, Mystic, etc., Spir. Leg., 131. Some crowned and sword-girt conqueror *Throne-born.
1851. Sir F. Palgrave, Norm. & Eng., I. 547. There was only one clearly acknowledged legitimate heir or *throne-capable representative of Charlemagne.
1814. Sir R. Wilson, Diary (1861), II. 344. Murat was seated as a Sultan—princes and dukes all standing behind his *throne-chair.
1906. Westm. Gaz., 6 June, 1/3. The procession then proceeds to the *throne gallery. Ibid. (1894), 30 June, 5/1. Two *thronelike chairs of larger growth stood in the centre.
c. 1875. Queen’s Printers’ Bible-Aids, 139. The people make Shallum … King, he taking the *throne-name of Jehoahaz.
1864. Sir T. Seaton, From Cadet to Colonel, xvii. 361. The interior room is the King’s *throne-room.
1889. John Bull, 2 March, 149/2. The Queen … entered the Throne-room shortly after three o’clock.
1816. J. Wilson, City of Plague, 51. Lurid stars Prophetic of *throne-shattering wars.
1552. Huloet, *Trone sytter, or he that sytteth in maiestie, altitronus.
