'Count palatine' definitions:

Definition of 'count palatine'

noun

A count who exercised royal authority in his own domain

From: GCIDE

palatine \pal"a*tine\, a. [F. palatin, L. palatinus, fr. palatium. See Palace, and cf. Paladin.]
1. Of or pertaining to a palace, or to a high officer of a palace; hence, possessing royal privileges. [1913 Webster]
2. Of or pertaining to the Palatinate. [PJC]
3. Of or pertaining to a Palatine[1]. [PJC]
Count palatine, County palatine. See under Count, and County.
Palatine hill, or The palatine, one of the seven hills of Rome, once occupied by the palace of the C[ae]sars. See also Palatine Hill in the vocabulary, and Palace. [1913 Webster]

From: GCIDE

Count \Count\, n. [F. conte, fr. L. comes, comitis, associate, companion, one of the imperial court or train, properly, one who goes with another; com- + ire to go, akin to Skr. i to go.] A nobleman on the continent of Europe, equal in rank to an English earl. [1913 Webster]
Note: Though the tittle Count has never been introduced into Britain, the wives of Earls have, from the earliest period of its history, been designated as Countesses. --Brande & C. [1913 Webster]
Count palatine. (a) Formerly, the proprietor of a county who possessed royal prerogatives within his county, as did the Earl of Chester, the Bishop of Durham, and the Duke of Lancaster. [Eng.] See County palatine, under County. (b) Originally, a high judicial officer of the German emperors; afterward, the holder of a fief, to whom was granted the right to exercise certain imperial powers within his own domains. [Germany] [1913 Webster]