king's evil
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of king's evil
1350–1400; Middle English kynges evel
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The heart of a toad, suspended by a blue ribbon round the neck, will cure the king's evil.
From The Mysteries of All Nations Rise and Progress of Superstition, Laws Against and Trials of Witches, Ancient and Modern Delusions Together With Strange Customs, Fables, and Tales by Grant, James, archaeologist
Sometimes the cost of a journey to London was defrayed by the parish in order to enable a sufferer to be touched for the king’s evil.
From English Villages by Ditchfield, P. H. (Peter Hampson)
A more raffish place was the Dog and Duck in St. George's Fields, which boasted mineral springs, good for gout, stone, king's evil, sore eyes, and inveterate cancers.
From In the Name of the Bodleian and Other Essays by Birrell, Augustine
A still more ominous sign was that he ventured to touch for the king's evil.
From Micah Clarke His Statement as made to his three grandchildren Joseph, Gervas and Reuben During the Hard Winter of 1734 by Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir
He was the first of our princes that attempted to cure the king's evil by touching.
From The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D. — Volume 10 Historical Writings by Swift, Jonathan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
