1. davenant, sir william an English playwright, born at Oxford, who succeeded Ben Jonson as poet-laureate, and was for a time manager of Drury Lane; was knighted by Charles I. for his zeal in the Royalist cause; his theatricalenterprise had smallsuccess during the Commonwealth, but interest in it revived with the Restoration, at which time "the drama broke loose from the prison of Puritanism to indulge in a shameless license" (1606-1668).
Definitions of davenant, sir william
