Laureate
Laureate usually refers to a poet who has been officially honored with a title, often as a poet laureate. The word comes from the laurel wreath, a classical symbol of poetic achievement and public honor. In older or broader literary use, it can also describe someone crowned with laurel as a mark of excellence.
Example
The laureate opened the ceremony with a poem
about the harbor, the market bells, and the wind
that carried the city's memory home.
Related Definitions
[n] someone honored for great achievements; figuratively someone crowned with a laurel wreath
[adj] worthy of the greatest honor or distinction; "The nation's pediatrician laureate is preparing to lay down his black bag"- James Traub
Related Terms
A per se, ace, arch-poet, award winner, ballad maker, balladmonger, bard, beat poet, boss, bucoliast, champ, champion, chief, commander, crowned with laurel, dean, distinguished, elegist, epic poet, fili, fugleman, genius, head, higher-up, honored, idylli