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tyranny, n.|ˈtɪrənɪ|
Forms: 4–6 tir-, tyrannye, -ie, (5 thir-, thyrannye, tirandye, tyreny, terannye), 6 tiranni, tyranye (Sc. -y), tyrranie, 6–7 tiranny (tirr-), tyrannie, (7 tirany), 5– tyranny.
[a. F. tyrannie (13th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), = Prov. tirannia, Sp. tirania, It. tirannia, a. med.L. tyrannia, f. L. tyrannus, Gr. τύραννος tyrant; cf. Gr. τυραννία (rare).]
1. The government of a tyrant or absolute ruler; the position or rule of a tyrant (in sense 1).
c1374Chaucer Anel. & Arc. 66 And whan that old Creon [king of Thebes] gan espie How that the blode riall was brought edoun, He heled that Cite by his Thyrannye. 1579–80North Plutarch (1595) 94 They say that he aunswered his friendes, that principalitie and tirannie was indeede a goodly place. Ibid. 106 Solon liued long time after Pisistratus had vsurped the tyranny. 1614Raleigh Hist. World iv. vi. §6 The Athenians..were fallen..vnder the tyranny of Lachares. 1671Milton Samson Pref., Of that honour Dionysius the elder was no less ambitious, then before of his attaining to the Tyranny. a1727Newton Chronol. Amended i. (1728) 124 Pisistratus began to affect the Tyranny of that city [Athens]. 1835Penny Cycl. III. 15/1 Pisistratus and his son held the tyranny of Athens for thirty-six years. 1887Encycl. Brit. XXII. 19/1 The tyranny of Dionysios fell, as usual, in the second generation.
b. In general sense: Absolute sovereignty.
1651Hobbes Leviath. iv. xlvi, From Aristotle's civil philosophy, they have learned, to call all manner of common⁓wealths but the popular..tyranny. 1668H. More Div. Dial. iv. vii. (1713) 300 Is it not absolute and unlimited Sovereignty,..which we from the Greeks call Tyranny? 1681Nevile Plato Rediv. 38 Aristotle..calls Tyranny the Corruption of Monarchy.
c. With a and pl. A state ruled by a tyrant or absolute prince; an absolute or despotic government.
1605Bacon Adv. Learn. i. viii. §3 Honour in free Monarchies and Common wealths, had a sweetness more, than in Tyrannies. 1628Hobbes Thucyd. (1822) 8 In most of the cities there were erected Tyrannies. 1672Temple Ess. Govts. Wks. 1731 I. 97 Some of the smaller States, but especially those of the Cities, fell often under Tyrannies, which spring naturally out of Popular Governments. 1712Swift Let. Eng. Tongue ⁋5 The change of their [i.e. the Roman] government to a tyranny, which ruined the study of eloquence. 1838Arnold Hist. Rome (1846) I. xxi. 454 All the ancient writers..call the Government of Dionysius a tyranny. 1881Jowett Thucyd. I. 10 The revenues of her [Hellas'] cities increased, and in most of them tyrannies were established; they had hitherto been ruled by hereditary kings, having fixed prerogatives.
2. The action or government of a tyrannical ruler; oppressive or unjustly severe government.
c1385Chaucer L.G.W. Prol. 375 Tyrauntis of lumbardye That vsyn wilfulhed & tyrannye [v.r. tirandye]. 1390Gower Conf. III. 201 Of crualte the felonie Engendred is of tirannie. c1430Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 82 Roote of discorde is froward tyrannye. 1494Fabyan Chron. i. vii. 12 Of this [Madan] is lytell or no memory made.., except yt some wryte of hym yt he vsed great Tyranny amonge his Brytons. 1495Trevisa's Barth. De P.R. vi. xviii. (W. de W.) n iij/1 Ryghtful lordshyp ouersettith not his subgettes by tyranny, but he defendyth theym. 1555Eden Decades 258 The patriarch of Constantinople was oppressed by the Tiranni of the Turkes. 1586T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. i. (1594) 601 We may call that a tyrannie, when the prince accounteth all his will as a just law, and hath no care either of pietie, justice, or faith. 1594Shakes. Rich. III, v. iii. 168 The last was I that felt thy Tyranny. 1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. ii. (S.T.S.) I. 137 The fyfte quha helde the gouernement..for his gret tirannie..he is slane. 1636E. Dacres tr. Machiavel's Disc. Livy I. 172 That part of the nobility, that hath not a share in the Tyrannie, is alwayes enemy to the Tyrant. 1667Milton P.L. xii. 95 Tyrannie must be, Though to the Tyrant thereby no excuse. 1724De Foe Mem. Cavalier ii. 167 Parliament Tyranny began to succeed Church Tyranny. 1792Anecd. W. Pitt III. xl. 87 The House, in committing the City Magistrates to prison, without hearing their defence upon the point of privilege, had been guilty of a gross and palpable act of tyranny. 1835Thirlwall Greece I. x. 396 A monarchy, in which selfish aims predominate, becomes a tyranny. 1836Hor. Smith Tin Trump. (1876) 203 Sir Thos. More transported himself from the tyranny of Henry VIII into Utopia. 1863Froude Hist. Eng. VII. i. 9 The accession of Mary had found the new opinions equally dishonoured by tyranny. 1883― Short Stud. IV. iii. 263 In political catastrophes revolution is nearest when tyranny is at its worst.
3. Arbitrary or oppressive exercise of power; unjustly severe use of one's authority; despotic treatment or influence; harsh, severe, or unmerciful action; with a and pl., an instance of this, a tyrannical act or proceeding.
c1368Chaucer Compl. Pite 6 The cruelte and Tyrannye [v.rr. tirannye, thirannye] Of loue. 1390Gower Conf. III. 207 The tirannies whiche he wroght. c1402Lydg. Compl. Bl. Knt. 665 Jelousye..That hath so longe..Werreyed Trouthe with his tirannye. a1533Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) O j, He that hath muche, doeth tyranny to hym that hath but littell. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 449 It is a starke tyranny that maried priestes should be put from the holy ministery. 1568Jewel Let. to Abp. Parker 7 May, I am afraid of printers. Their tyranny is terrible. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 546 He delights to see men..torn with Elephants. Of these tyrannies he reckons many particulars which he saw. 1642Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iv. x. 285 'Tis tyranny to trample on him that prostrates himself. 1664H. More Myst. Iniq. xvii. 62 All the Frauds and Tyrannies of this Unchristian, though over⁓much Anointed, Priesthood. 1709Strype Ann. Ref. I. liii. 537 Among other his tyrannies,..the boy was gotten into Boner's house, and there whipped with rods in a most lamentable manner. 1747Butler Serm. Wks. 1874 II. 302 The tyranny of our own lawless passions is the..most dangerous of all tyrannies. 1843Prescott Mexico i. iii. (1864) 27 The worst kind of tyranny—that of a blind fanaticism. 1853Kane Grinnell Exp. xl. (1856) 364, I commenced the anti-scorbutic tyranny at once. 1856Kingsley Lett. (1878) I. 474 Lifting up your voice to expose the tyranny of ‘Union’ strikes. 1886Sheldon tr. Flaubert's Salammbô 24 The tyrannies of discipline.
b. Violent or lawless action; violence, outrage, villany. Obs. or arch.
1475Rolls of Parlt. VI. 138/2 For fere of which Robberies and Tyrany, doon by the said Henry Bodrugan. 1547Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 75 The greit preparationis and tyrany divisit and ordanit be our saidis auld ynemeis. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 250 When the Scottishe king had finished this hys tiranny vpon the Towne. 1570Sat. Poems Reform. xx. 102 Be tyrannie, To sla our rycht Regent. 1603Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 142 Which crueltie he used, because they a little before had used the like tyrannie against his Turks.
Hence † ˈtyranny v., intr. = tyrannize v. 3. Obs. rare—1.
1650R. Gentilis Considerations 45 Our sense doth with ease tyranny over us. |