Related:

• PLEBISCITE, n. A popular vote to ascertain the will of the sovereign.
  -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary...
• PREROGATIVE, n. A sovereign's right to do wrong. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary
• Coronation, n.: The ceremony of investing a sovereign with the outward and visible signs of his divine right to be blown skyhigh with a dynamite bomb.
  -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary...
• WIT, n. The salt with which the American humorist spoils his intellectual cookery by leaving it out.
  -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary...
• Wit, n.: The salt with which the American Humorist spoils his cookery .
  .. by leaving it out. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary...
• SCEPTER, n. A king's staff of office, the sign and symbol of his authority.
  It was originally a mace with which the sovereign admonished his jester and vetoed ministerial measures by breaking the bones of their proponents....