What is "beast royal"

Beast \Beast\ (b[=e]st), n. [OE. best, beste, OF. beste, F. b[^e]te, fr. L. bestia.]

1. Any living creature; an animal; -- including man, insects, etc. [Obs.]
   --Chaucer.

2. Any four-footed animal, that may be used for labor, food, or sport; as, a beast of burden.

   A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast.
   --Prov. xii. 10.

3. any animal other than a human; -- opposed to man.

   'Tain't a fit night out for man nor beast.
   --W. C. Fields.

4. Fig.: A coarse, brutal, filthy, or degraded fellow.

5. A game at cards similar to loo. [Obs.]
   --Wright.

6. A penalty at beast, omber, etc. Hence: To be beasted, to be beaten at beast, omber, etc.

   Beast royal, the lion. [Obs.]
   --Chaucer.

   Syn: Beast, Brute.

   Usage: When we use these words in a figurative sense, as applicable to human beings, we think of beasts as mere animals governed by animal appetite; and of brutes as being destitute of reason or moral feeling, and governed by unrestrained passion. Hence we speak of beastly appetites; beastly indulgences, etc.; and of brutal manners; brutal inhumanity; brutal ferocity. So, also, we say of a drunkard, that he first made himself a beast, and then treated his family like a brute.