merchant prince

American  

noun

1. a very wealthy or influential merchant.

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merchant prince British  

noun

1. a very wealthy merchant

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Etymology

Origin of merchant prince

First recorded in 1835–45

Example Sentences

He was a Massachusetts merchant prince, she a Michigan schoolteacher, and in 1892 they bought what would become their 17,700-acre Malibu kingdom.

From Los Angeles Times

“I was the son of this kind of displaced merchant prince,” Mr. Goldman told The Times in 1993.

From New York Times

In both movies, the mermaid Ariel wants out of her widowed father’s underwater kingdom and into the arms of the earthbound merchant prince whom she rescues in a shipwreck.

From New York Times

With the arrival of Mr. Drexler — who soon became known as the “merchant prince” — came the pocket tees, the khakis and the sweaters that would signal an end to the brand’s youth.

From New York Times

“The standard of an English laborer, hack driver or cad in respect to neatness, smugness and elegance of gardens and grounds and paths and ways is infinitely higher than that of a Chicago merchant prince or virtuoso,” he wrote to Codman, “and we shall be disgraced if we fail to work up to a far higher level than our masters will be prepared to think suitable.”

From Literature