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]