coronation

What it means

1. alsoattributiveliterallyAn act of investing with a crown; a crowning.

   [A]nd if vvee be Spouſes of this Bridegroom [Jesus], vvee cannot but (as vvee are exhorted) rejoyce in that the marriage of the Lambe is come, and the day of our ovvn coronation vvith an incorruptible Crovvn of glory.

   1612, Thomas Taylor, “A Commentary upon the Epistle of St. Paul Written to Titus. [Second Chapter.]”, in The Works of the Judicious and Learned Divine Thomas Taylor […], volume II, London: […] Tho[mas] Ratcliffe, for John Bartlet the Elder, […], published 1659, →OCLC, page 352

   1. alsoattributiveliterallyspecificallyAn act or the ceremony of formally investing a sovereign or the sovereign's consort with a crown and other insignia of royalty, on or shortly after their accession to the sovereignty.

      King Charles III’s coronation is to be much less elaborate compared to his mother’s.

      5 more examples

      Some reaſons of this double Corronation / I haue poſſeſſt you vvith, and thinke them ſtrong.

      c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii], page 15, column 1

      [John] Fal[staff]. VVhat diſeaſe haſt thou? / [Peter] Bul[lcalf]. A horſon cold ſir, a cough ſir, vvhich I cought vvith ringing in the Kings affaires vpon his coronation day ſir.

      c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Second Part of Henrie the Fourth, […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]

      [T]he Lady Anne, / VVhom the King hath in ſecrecie long married, / This day vvas vievv'd in open, as his Queene, / Going to Chappell; and the voyce is novv / Onely about her Corronation.

      1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 223, column 1

      It is well known that at the coronation of kings and queens, even modern ones, a certain curious process of seasoning them for their functions is gone through. […] Certain I am, however, that a king's head is solemnly oiled at his coronation, even as a head of salad. […] But the only thing to be considered here, is this—what kind of oil is used at coronations? Certainly it cannot be olive oil, nor macassar oil, nor castor oil, nor bear's oil, nor train oil, nor cod-liver oil. What then can it possibly be, but sperm oil in its unmanufactured, unpolluted state, the sweetest of all oils? Think of that, ye loyal Britons! we whalemen supply your kings and queens with coronation stuff!

      1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “Postscript”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 124

      [George Friederic] Handel's coronation anthem, God save the King, was played by Dr. Camidge [i.e., John Camidge II] on the organ, with sublime effect. The minister and the music were made for each other.

      1856, R[alph] W[aldo] Emerson, “Religion”, in English Traits, Boston, Mass.: Phillips, Sampson, and Company, →OCLC, pages 219–220

      Synonyms: crowning, crownment, sacration

2. figurativelyA completion or culmination of something.

In a sentence

[A]nd if vvee be Spouſes of this Bridegroom [Jesus], vvee cannot but (as vvee are exhorted) rejoyce in that the marriage of the Lambe is come, and the day of our ovvn coronation vvith an incorruptible Crovvn of glory.

1612, Thomas Taylor, “A Commentary upon the Epistle of St. Paul Written to Titus. [Second Chapter.]”, in The Works of the Judicious and Learned Divine Thomas Taylor […], volume II, London: […] Tho[mas] Ratcliffe, for John Bartlet the Elder, […], published 1659, →OCLC, page 352

Where it comes from

1. Latincorōnō“to coronate, crown (with a crown, garland, etc.)”
2. Late Latin*corōnātiōnem
3. Old Frenchcoronacion
4. Anglo-Normancoronacion
5. Middle Englishcoronacion
6. Englishcoronation

From Late Middle English coronacion, coronacioun (“crowning of a sovereign or his consort; powers conferred by this ceremony; crowning of the Virgin Mary; (figuratively) placing of a crown of thorns on Jesus; act of rewarding a person with eternal life, happiness, honour, etc.”) [and other forms], borrowed from Anglo-Norman coronacion and Old French coronacion, coronation, from Late Latin *corōnātiōnem, from Latin corōnō (“to coronate, crown (with a crown, garland, etc.)”) + -ātiōnem (suffix forming nouns relating to actions or their results). Corōnō is derived from corōna (“garland, wreath; crown”).