royalty: Meaning and Definition of

roy•al•ty

1. royal persons collectively.
2. royal status, dignity, or power; sovereignty: to be elevated to royalty.
3. a person of royal lineage; member of a royal family.
4. prerogatives, rights, or symbolic emblems of a king, queen, or other sovereign.
5. a royal domain; kingdom; realm.
6. character or quality proper to or befitting a sovereign; nobility.
7. a compensation or portion of the proceeds paid to the owner of a right, as a patent or oil or mineral right, for the use of it.
8. an agreed portion of the income from a work paid to its author, composer, etc., usually a percentage of the retail price of each copy sold.
9. a royal right, as over minerals, granted by a sovereign to a person or corporation.
10. the payment made for such a right.