king of the castle

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king of the castle (usually uncountable, plural kings of the castle or kings of the castles)

1. A children's game in which one player is located on something elevated and other players attempt to take his or her place.
   • 1912, Arthur Quiller-Couch, chapter 2, in Hocken and Hunken:

     [A] throng of children came pouring from school. […] [T]hey were storming the sand-heap, pelting a king of the castle, who pelted back with handfuls.

2. (idiomatic, by extension, sometimes sarcastic or derogatory) A person who assumes a position of greater importance, authority, or prominence than others.
   • 1983 April 30, Deirdre Bair, "Enmity, Torment, Adversity" (review of Voices: A Life of Frank O'Connor by James Matthews), New York Times (retrieved 3 Jan 2019):

     Mr. Matthews, usually nonjudgmental when writing about O'Connor's domestic relations, can't resist calling him "the king of the castle, the smug possessor of a bevy of three fine women absolutely de-voted to him."

   • 1995 April 30, James Walsh, “Shoko Asahara: The Making of a Messiah”, in Time, retrieved 3 January 2019:

     [A] onetime classmate in Kumamoto said, "I think Matsumoto is trying to create a closed society like the school for the blind he went to. He is trying to create a society separate from ordinary society in which he can become king of the castle."

   • 1998 November 3, Andy Farrell, “Golf: World stage awaits Monty's magic”, in Independent, UK, retrieved 3 January 2019:

     Darren Clarke's impressive victory on Sunday at Montecastillo in the Volvo Masters, the season's finale, was good enough to leapfrog Lee Westwood into second place on the order of merit, but not to dislodge Monty as the king of the castle.

   • 2016 June 18, Martin Knelman, “Music: Rufus does Judy and faces himself”, in The Star, Canada, retrieved 3 January 2019:

     Wainwright, who is composing the music, is partnered with Daniel MacIvor, who is writing the libretto. “Both Daniel and I are used to being king of the castle,” Rufus confides, “so we need a third party to give us a sense of perspective.”

• (children's game): king of the hill
• (one who is of greater importance, authority, or prominence): See Thesaurus:important person