Definition of "shah" [shah]

• Used formerly as a title for the hereditary monarch of Iran. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "He was America's "shah"-and that has also been his undoing."
• "The official national anthem of the shah was the "Imperial Salute of Iran.""
• "It's hard to block out flashbacks of President Jimmy Carter's 1977 New Year's Eve statement that Iran under the shah was an island of stability in a troubled region - only months before that stability was shattered."