Definition of "regal"

He made a scorn of his regal oath.

1649, J[ohn] Milton, ΕΙΚΟΝΟΚΛΆΣΤΗΣ [Eikonoklástēs] […], London: […] Matthew Simmons, […]

The [Washington] Post's proprietor through those turbulent [Watergate] days, Katharine Graham, held a double place in Washington’s hierarchy: at once regal Georgetown hostess and scrappy newshound, ready to hold the establishment to account.

2013 August 10, Lexington, “Keeping the mighty honest”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848

Terrific movement from The Queen here. Gets behind the defender, goes one way then cuts back inside. Regal attacking play.

2018 July 14, Gary Lineker, Twitter‎, retrieved 2018-07-15

Kwarteng said he had urged Truss to “slow down” over reforms, but a cabinet minister told the FT that she felt “invincible, almost regal”.

2022 December 10, Harry Taylor, “Liz Truss and I ‘got carried away’ writing mini-budget, admits Kwasi Kwarteng”, in The Guardian‎

The children to whom I acted as cicerone almost screamed with glee as they saw the four-and-twenty blackbirds emerging from the pie-crust in front of the astonished King; and when the climax of the inconsequential story was reached, by way of the regal counting house and the “reginal” parlour, and a blackbird (presumably one of the four-and-twenty that had been temporarily immured in the pie) was seen about to revenge himself on the innocent nose of the guiltless laundry-maid, a veritable climax of enthusiasm was reached.

c. 1898, Truth, column 2

The crown seals, a regal crown and a reginal crown are unengraved, but from the motif I judge they symbolize King William III of England and Queen Mary, (see 1688, English History) who formerly ruled Holland as Prince William, Consort, and Queen Mary — The House of Orange.

c. 1947, Hobbies, page 27, column 1

In any case, the discrepancy might be explained by the fact that the 9th pylon has not yet disgorged all it blocks; it is in the talatat from this pylon that the masonry of the essentially regal (as opposed to reginal) temples Tni-mnw and Rwd-mnw predominate.

1973, Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, page 78, column 2