Definition of "sceptre"

sceptre

/ˈsɛptə/

noun
plural sceptres
1. (British spelling) An ornamental staff held by a ruling monarch as a symbol of power.
  Quotations
  To the fleet he came / Bearing rich ranſom glorious to redeem / His daughter, and his hands charged with the wreath / And golden ſceptre of the God shaft-arm’d.
  1791, Homer, W[illiam] Cowper, transl., “[The Iliad.] Book I.”, in The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, Translated into Blank Verse, […], volume I, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], page 3
  But what had occupied him most was the robe he was to wear at his coronation, the robe of tissued gold, and the ruby-studded crown, and the sceptre with its rows and rings of pearls.
  1891, Oscar Wilde, “The Young King”, in A House of Pomegranates, London: James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine & Co […], page 6
verb
third-person singular simple present sceptres, present participle sceptring, simple past and past participle sceptred
1. To give a sceptre to.
  Quotations
  To Britain's queen the sceptred suppliant bends.
  1713, Thomas Tickell, On the Prospect of Peace
2. (figurative) To invest with royal power.