king's man

• King's man, kingsman, Kingsman

king's man (plural king's men)

1. A Loyalist during the American Revolution, or any supporter of the king.
   • 1894, Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine, National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, page 424:

     The owner of the grist mill, Smith Bowen, was a patriot, but his father was thought to have Tory tendencies, and when they came to burn the mill he ran out waving his hands and crying, "Spare the mill for I am a King's man."

   • 1972, James Henry Stark, The Loyalists of Massachusetts And the Other Side of the American Revolution:

     Moreover, his willingness to lodge British soldiers, and a free hospitality shown to British officers (among others who frequented his house was General Mackay, a relative, probably, of his wife) marked Mr. Murray as a King's man.

   • 2014, Frances H. Kennedy, The American Revolution: A Historical Guidebook, Oxford University Press, page 37:

     The Virginia House of Burgesses condemned the acts even before they took effect, prompting Governor Dunmore, a loyal king's man, to order it dissolved.

2. A customs officer, or other officer appointed by the English Crown.
   • 1990, Sarah Gibbings, “The Tie: Trends and Traditions”, in Barron's, page 84:

     […] "king's man" was a customs officer.

   • 1997, Donald R. Kelley, David Harris Sacks, The Historical Imagination in Early Modern Britain: History, Rhetoric, and Fiction, 1500-1800, Cambridge University Press, page 152:

     Either North or Cheney […] must have secured Arden's appointment to the lucrative post of king's customs officer for the port of Faversham […] From the first, Arden was, in the words of Lena Orlin, who has described these relations in compelling detail, "a king's man in Faversham."

   • 2016, Dawn G. Robinson, Secret Bude, Amberley Publishing Limited:

     It is said that the King's man, John Silver (you couldn't make this up), caught Symonds red-handed one day and had his head cut off with a cutlass. […] the coast was less closely monitored by the customs officers than the secluded coves of the south; anyway, the customs men were often in cahoots with the smugglers and wreckers. Despite this, there were few run-ins between smugglers and customs men […]

3. (obsolete) A handkerchief or neckerchief with a yellow pattern on a green background.

   Coordinate term: Randal's man

   • 1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, published 1861:

     The ‘Kingsmen’ they call the best handkerchiefs—those that have the pretty-looking flowers on them. Some are only worth 4d. or 5d., some’s not worth taking.

• (supporter of the king): Loyalist, loyalist

• (handkerchief or neckerchief): John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary