| 释义 |
despot|ˈdɛspət|
Also 6 dispotto, 7 despote.
[a. OF. despot (14th c.), modF. despote, ad. Gr. δεσπότης (med.L. despota, -tus) master, lord, despot. In sense 1 partly after It. ˈdispoto, in Florio deˈspota, ‘a lord, a lordlike governour’.]
1. Hist. A word which, in its Greek form, meant ‘master’ or ‘lord’ (e.g. of a household, of slaves), and was applied to a deity, and to the absolute ruler of a non-free people; in Byzantine times it was used of the Emperor, and, as representing Lat. magister, in various official titles, also as a form of address (= domine my lord) to the emperor, to bishops, and especially to patriarchs; from the time of Alexius Comnenus it was the formal title of princes of the imperial house; in the sense ‘lord’ or ‘prince’, it was borne, after the Turkish conquest, by the petty Christian rulers of dependent or tributary provinces, as the despots of the Morea or of Serbia (= Serbian hospodar). It was in this later application that the word was first known in the Western languages.
(In modern Greek, δεσπότης is the ordinary appellation of a bishop.)
1562J. Shute Cambini's Turk. Wars (tr. from Italian) 20 Thomas Paleologo..abstained from that title..and contented himselfe with the only title of the Dispotto of Morea. 1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iii. ii. 71 b, Taken awaye from his father John Castriot Despot of Servia. 1588Greene Perimedes 11 The Despot of Decapolis and his wife..lost their way. 1603Knolles Hist. Turks (1638) 112 He was both by the Patriarch and the yong Emperor honored with the title of the Despot, another step vnto the Empire. 1614Selden Titles Hon. 122 The Despot was the heire or successor apparant of the Constantinopolitan Empire (vnderstand, of the times since Alexius Comnenus, though before him it were a generall name, as My Lord). 1656Blount Glossogr., Among the ancient Greeks, he that was next to the Emperor, was, by a general name, called Despotes. 1755Johnson, Despot, an absolute prince; one that governs with unlimited authority. This word is not in use, except as applied to some Dacian prince; as the despot of Servia. 1788Gibbon Decl. & F. liii. V. 485 To their favourite sons or brothers, they imparted the more lofty appellation of Lord or Despot, which was illustrated with new ornaments and prerogatives, and placed immediately after the person of the emperor himself. 1819T. Hope Anastasius (1820) II. x. 203 (Stanf.), I am bearer of letters to the despots [bishops of the Greek Church] and proëstis of our different islands.
2. After ancient Greek use: An absolute ruler of a country; hence, by extension, any ruler who governs absolutely or tyrannically; any person who exercises tyrannical authority; a tyrant, an oppressor.
(The modern use, which is usually hostile, according to Mason, quoted by Todd, came into prominence at the period of the French Revolution: ‘the French revolutionists have been very liberal in conferring this title’.)
[1611Cotgr., Despote, a Despote; the chiefe or soueraigne Lord of a Countrey. 1755: see sense 1.] 1781Cowper Expost. 370 Hast thou..returned..A despot big with power obtained by wealth? 1784― Task v. 311 But is it fit..that a man..Should be a despot absolute, and boast Himself the only freeman of his land? 1795Southey Joan of Arc x. 444 When pouring o'er his legion slaves on Greece, The eastern despot bridged the Hellespont. 1795–6Burke Regic. Peace iv. Wks. IX. 104 The friends of Jacobins are no longer despots; the betrayers of the common cause are no longer traitors! 1841W. Spalding Italy & It. Isl. II. 181 Which coincided in date with several other plots against Italian despots. 1841Elphinstone Hist. Ind. II. 159 The intercourse between those princes was highly characteristic of Asiatic despots. 1841–4Emerson Ess., Compensation Wks. (Bohn) I. 43 Under the primeval despots of Egypt. 1848Hallam Mid. Ages ii. Note vii (1855) I. 305 Every Frank of wealth and courage was a despot within his sphere. 1857Hughes Tom Brown Pref. (1871) 12 Which divides boys into despots and slaves. 1871Morley Voltaire (1886) 82 Voltaire..never rose above the simple political conception of an eastern tale, a good-tempered despot with a sage vizier.
3. Comb.
1846C. G. Prowett Prometh. Bound 34 Is not our despot-lord In all things framed to violence? |