| 释义 |
▪ I. emperor|ˈɛmpərə(r)|
Forms: 3 emperere, 3–8 emperour(e, (3 amperur, aumperour, 4 emparour, -ur, empere, emperore, -ure, eemperour, 5 emperowre), 5–6 emproure, -ure, (6 emporour, empowr, empoure, -pre-, -prioure), (4 imparour, -ur, imperur, -owr, 4–6 imperour), 4, 6– emperor.
[The ME. emperere, emperoure, are respectively ad. OF. emperere(s (nom. case) and empereor (oblique case):—L. impeˈrātor, imperāˈtōrem, agent-noun f. imperāre to command.
The L. imperator, orig. denoting in general the holder of a chief military command, became in the period of the Roman republic a title of honour, bestowed on a victorious general by the acclamation of the army on the field of battle. This title was afterwards conferred by the senate on Julius Cæsar and on Augustus, with reference to the military powers with which the chief of the state was invested; and in accordance with this precedent it was adopted by all the subsequent rulers of the empire except Tiberius and Claudius. In post-classical Latin it became the chief official designation of the sovereign, being interpreted in the sense of ‘absolute ruler’ (in Greek αὐτοκράτωρ). In this sense it continued to be applied to the rulers of the Western and Eastern Roman empires until they severally came to an end. In a.d. 800 when the Western empire was nominally revived, the Frankish king Charles the Great (Charlemagne) was crowned by the pope with the title of imperator, implying that he was invested with the same supremacy over European monarchs that the rulers of the earlier Roman empire had possessed. The title continued to be borne by his successors, the heads of the ‘Holy Roman Empire’ (popularly the ‘Empire of Germany’) down to its extinction in 1806. The Romanic (and hence the English) forms of the word were originally applied to the sovereigns of the Eastern empire, to those of the Romano-Germanic empire, and historically to those of the earlier Roman empire. For subsequent extensions of meaning (common to English with the Romanic langs.), see below in sense 3.]
I.
1. The sovereign of the undivided Roman Empire, or of the Western or Eastern Empire.
a1225Ancr. R. 244 Þuruh Julianes heste þe Amperur. a1300Cursor M. 11277 (Cott.) In august time, þe Imparour, Was vs born vr sauueour. c1300St. Margarete 23 Liþer was þemperor Diocletian. 1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 4089 He sal be last emparour þat þare sal be. 1388Wyclif Matt. xxii. 21 Ȝelde ȝe to the emperoure tho thingis that ben the emperouris. 1480Caxton Chron. Eng. iv. (1520) 27 b/2 He was commaunded by the letter of themperoure to come to Rome. 1549Compl. Scot. 25 Marcus antonius vas venquest be the empriour agustus. 1603Knolles Hist. Turks (1638) 36 Baldwin had before married Emanuel the Greek Emperors neece. 1790Burke Fr. Rev. Wks. V. 431 Rome, under her emperours, united the evils of both systems. 1833Cruse Eusebius iv. x. 137 This emperor [Adrian] having finished his mortal career.
2. The head of the Holy Roman Empire, also styled of Almaigne or Germany.
In German documents Kaiser (the Teutonic form of the imperial name Cæsar) was used in this sense, and is therefore regarded as the German equivalent of ‘emperor’.
1297R. Glouc. (1724) 486 The aumperour Frederic, & the king Philip of France Alle hii wende to Ierusalem. c1450Guy Warw. (C.) 4205 Therfore y sey yow, syr emperere. 1529Rastell Pastyme (1811) 81 Philyppe Auguste..wanne a great battell agaynst Otton the emperour. c1552Bale K. Johan 1 My granfather was an empowr excelent. 1615Stow Annales 661/1 His lordship..taking leaue of the Emperour, departed from Vienna. 1735Oldmixon Hist. Eng., Geo. I, vi. 763 The Treaty of Vienna between the Emperor and King of Spain. 1804[see 3]. 1873Bryce Holy Rom. Empire (ed. 4) xii. 186 No act of sovereignty is recorded to have been done by any of the Emperors in England.
3. a. In wider sense, as a title of sovereignty considered superior in dignity to that of ‘king’.
In the Middle Ages, and subsequently, the title was often applied to extra-European monarchs ruling over wide territories. We still speak of the Emperors of China, Japan, Morocco, and historically of the Mogul Emperors of India and the Emperor of the Aztecs. Since the early part of the 16th c. the title has been used as the equivalent of the Russian tsar (or czar). The Sultans of Turkey (who assumed the style of Keisar-i-Rūm, ‘Cæsar of Rome’, as successors of the Byzantine emperors) were occasionally spoken of as emperors. Until the present century ‘the Emperor’ always, unless otherwise interpreted by the context, denoted the ‘emperor of Germany’. But in 1804 Napoleon I. assumed the title of ‘Emperor of the French’, and in the same year the emperor Francis II ‘of Germany’ added to his other titles that of ‘Emperor of Austria’, which he retained when in 1806 he put an end to the Holy Roman Empire by his abdication. Subsequently the style of emperor has been adopted in several other instances. ‘At present (1889) the only sovereigns so called are (apart from Asiatic and African potentates) those of Russia, Austria, Germany (since 1870), and Brazil (since 1822); and in 1876 the title of Empress of India was assumed by Queen Victoria.’ (N.E.D.)
c1400Mandeville v. 42 The grete Cham..is the gretteste Emperour..of alle the parties beȝonde. 1533–4Act 25 Hen. VIII, c. 22. §1 The laufull kinges and emperours of this realme. 1560Rolland Crt. Venus Prol. 122 As I have red of Kingis and Empreouris. 1611Shakes. Wint. T. iii. ii. 120 The Emperor of Russia was my Father. 1655M. Carter Hon. Rediv. (1660) 70 Yet our Kings have been styled Emperors, and this Realm of England called an Empire. 1772Sir W. Jones Ess. i. (1777) 185 Being assisted by the emperours of India and China. 1804tr. Proclam. Francis II, 11 Aug. in Ann. Reg. 695 Immediately after our title of elected emperor of the Romans shall be inserted that of hereditary emperor of Austria. 1836Penny Cycl. V. 132 Napoleon, by the grace of God..emperor of the French. Ibid. VII. 77 The government of China..depends on the will..of the reigning emperor. a1859De Quincey Autobiog. Sk. Wks. 1858 I. 162 note, An emperor is a prince uniting in his own person the thrones of several distinct kingdoms. 1872Freeman Gen. Sketch xvi. §3. (1874) 330 Since Buonaparte's time the title of Emperor, which once meant so much, has ceased to have any particular meaning.
b. transf. and fig.
a1300Cursor M. 18179 Þou ert..sa hei wit-all, Bath als king and emparur. 1393Langl. P. Pl. C. xxii. 429 Ich wolde Þat..peers..[were] Emperour of alle the worlde. c1400Rom. Rose 7217 Of all this world is emperour Gyle my fadir. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 7 b, In heuen, euery man..shall be as an emperour. 1598Shakes. Merry W. i. iii. 9 Thou'rt an Emperor (Cesar, Keiser and Pheazar). 1602― Ham. iv. iii. 22 Your worm is your onely Emperor for diet. 1667Milton P.L. ii. 510 Nor less Then Hells dread Emperour. 1697Potter Antiq. Greece iii. xx. (1715) 149 Neptune the Great Emperor of the Sea.
4. a. In the popular names of certain butterflies: purple emperor, † emperor of the woods, Apatura Iris; † emperor of Morocco, a collector's name, perh. = purple emperor.
1773Wilkes Eng. Moths & Butterfl. pl. 120 The Purple Highflier, or Emperor of the Woods. 1775Harris Aurelian pl. 3 Purple Emperor. 1788P. Pindar (J. Wolcott) title, Sir Joseph Banks and the Emperor of Morocco. 18..Lytton Kenelm Chil. v. v, A rare butterfly..called the Emperor of Morocco.
b. ellipt. for emperor fish, emperor penguin.
1927Times (weekly ed.) 3 Feb. 115/3 The King penguins..are, next to the Emperors, the largest of the family. 1929Times 2 Aug. 14/1 ‘Emperors’, beautiful fish of about 30 lb., and of a rich red colour all over. 1967M. E. Gillham Sub-Antarctic Sanctuary xx. 173 The almost impossibly rigorous conditions of the emperors' breeding colonies.
† II. 5. a. In the etymological sense = ‘commander’. b. Rom. Ant. As the rendering of L. imperator in its republican sense (now replaced by the Lat. word). Obs.
c1325K. Alis. 1669 The messangers Buth y-come to heore emperis. 138.Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 290 Oure emperoure Crist Comaundiþ. c1400Destr. Troy 3670 Þai..ordant hym [Agamynon] Emperour by opyn assent. 1533Bellenden Livy v. (1822) 439 [The] grete justice of thare emprioure Camillus. 1598W. Phillips Linschoten's Trav. in Arb. Garner III. 23 The ships of an ancient custom, do use to choose an Emperor among themselves. 1598R. Grenewey Tacitus' Ann. i. iii. (1622) 5 [Augustus] had beene honored with the name of Emperour one and twenty times. 1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iv. xiv. 90 My Captaine, and my Emperor. 1741Middleton Cicero II. vii. (1742) 193 Upon this success, Cicero was saluted Emperor.
III. 6. attrib. and Comb., as emperor-king, emperor-maker; emperor-less, emperor-like adjs. (and adv.); also † emperor-clerk, contemptuously for a lord-spiritual; emperor fish, a brilliant-coloured food fish, Holacanthus imperator; emperor goose, a goose of Alaska, Philacte canagica, having handsomely variegated plumage; emperor-moth (Saturnia pavonia minor); emperor penguin, the largest of the penguin family, Aptenodytes forsteri.
138.Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 437 Alle degrees of *emperor clerkis. ― Wks. (1880) 447 Of popis, ne of oþere emperour clerkis.
1889Cent. Dict., Emperor of Japan... Also *emperor-fish. 1896Lydekker R. Nat. Hist. V. 344 The splendidly-coloured emperor-fish (H[olacanthus] imperator)..ranges from the east coast of Africa to the Indian and Malayan seas. 1949Oxf. Jun. Encycl. II. 373/2 The best-known [Butterfly-fish] is the Emperor Fish of Indian seas, a very gaudy fish, with its yellow stripes crossing a blue or brown body, and blue and white markings on head and fins.
1872Coues Key N. Amer. Birds 283 Painted Goose. *Emperor Goose. Wavy bluish-gray, with lavender or lilac tinting. 1940Gabrielson & Jewett Birds Oregon 129 The Emperor Geese usually arrive here as single birds mingling with other species or in small bands.
1841W. Spalding Italy & It. Isl. III. 60 The *emperor-king passed through Piedmont in triumph.
1882Athenæum 30 Dec. 879/2 The great-grand-nephew of the victor of Rossbach put an end..to the *emperor-less period.
1579Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 509/2 It is an *Emperour-like gouernance. 1601Imp. Consid. Sec. Priests (1675) 54 Thus these great Emperour-like Jesuits do speak to her Majesty. c1630Drummond of Hawthornden Poems Wks. (1711) 6 And emperourlike decore With diadem of pearl thy temples fair.
1581Savile Tacitus' Hist. i. xxx. (1591) 18 Prouide that the raskallest sort be no *Emperour-makers.
1868Wood Homes without H. xiv. 279 The cocoon of the common *Emperor Moth.
1885Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 492 ‘*Emperor’ and ‘King’ Penguins. 1895Lydekker R. Nat. Hist. IV. 546 The king-penguin..and the still larger emperor-penguin. 1905R. F. Scott Voy. ‘Discov.’ I. iv. 148 A small colony of Emperor penguins in process of moulting exhibited the most dishevelled appearance. 1959New Biology XXIX. 107 The truly Antarctic birds are the Emperor and Adélie penguins and the southern forms of Antarctic skua.
▪ II. ˈemperor, v. nonce-wd.
[f. prec. n.]
trans. To rule over as emperor or supreme head.
1855Bailey Mystic 109 Seeking..Their own names, to the tribes each emperor'd, To magnify. |