Emily Dickinson Lexicon

LAU'RE-ATE, a. [L. laureatus, from laurea, a laurel.]

Decked or invested with laurel; as, laureate hearse. – Milton. Soft on her lap her laureate son reclines. – Pope. Poet laureate, in Great Britain, an officer of the king's household, whose business is to compose an ode annually for, the king's birth-day, and for the new year. It is said this title was first given him in the time of Edward IV. – Encyc.