Mon·arch n.
1. A sole or supreme ruler; a sovereign; the highest ruler; an emperor, king, queen, prince, or chief.
He who reigns
Monarch in heaven, . . . upheld by old repute. --Milton.
2. One superior to all others of the same kind; as, an oak is called the monarch of the forest.
3. A patron deity or presiding genius.
Come, thou, monarch of the vine,
Plumpy Bacchus. --Shak.
4. Zool. A very large red and black butterfly (Danais Plexippus); -- called also milkweed butterfly and monarch butterfly.
mon·arch but·ter·fly, n. Zool. A very large red and black butterfly (Danais Plexippus) having striking orange-brown wings with black veins in a reticulated pattern; -- called also milkweed butterfly and monarch. Its larvae feed on the leaves of the milkweed.
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milkweed butterfly
n : large migratory American butterfly having deep orange wings
with black and white markings; the larvae feed on
milkweed [syn: monarch, monarch butterfly, Danaus
plexippus]