empiren.adj.

Brit.

/ˈɛmpʌɪə/, U.S.

/ˈɛmˌpaɪ(ə)r/

Forms:

α. Middle English empeyr, Middle English enpir, Middle English enpyre, Middle English 1600s empir, Middle English–1500s empyere, Middle English–1600s empere, Middle English–1600s empyre, Middle English– empire, 1500s empeir, 1500s empeire, 1500s emper, 1500s empeyre, 1500s empier, 1500s empyr, 1500s–1600s empyer; Scottish pre-1700 empyir, pre-1700 empyr, pre-1700 empyre, pre-1700 1700s– empire; N.E.D. (1891) also records forms Middle English emper, Middle English empyr.

β. Middle English ampyre.

γ. Middle English imparre, Middle English ympyre, Middle English–1600s impire, 1500s–1600s impyre; Scottish pre-1700 impir, pre-1700 impire, pre-1700 impyir, pre-1700 impyre.

Also with capital initial.

Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymon: French empire.

Etymology: < Anglo-Norman emper, empere, empir, enpire, Anglo-Norman and Middle French, French empire (noun) extensive territory under the control of a supreme ruler (c1135 in Old French), power, authority (1139), supreme dominion, sovereignty, authority (1334 or earlier), the Holy Roman Empire (a1399 or earlier), the reign of an emperor (a1444 or earlier), the aggregate of territories under the control of Napoleon I as Emperor of the French (1804), the aggregate of territories under the control of Napoleon III as Emperor of the French (1852), (adjective) (of clothing, furniture, etc.) characteristic of the period of the first French empire (1833) < classical Latin imperium imperium n. Compare Old Occitan emperi , Catalan imperi (13th cent.; also †emperi , 15th cent.), Spanish imperio , †emperio (both first half of the 13th cent.), Portuguese império (14th cent.; 13th cent. as †emperio , †empeiro ), Italian impero (second half of the 13th cent.; c1225 as †imperio ). Compare empery n. and foreign-language forms cited at that entry.The concept of imperium evolved through the classical Latin and post-classical Latin periods in ways broadly similar to that of imperātor (see discussion at emperor n.).

A. n.

I. Senses relating to a territory or group of territories with a single ruler or shared source of authority.

1. Anything considered as or likened to a realm or domain having an absolute ruler, such as heaven, hell, the oceans, etc.

ΚΠ

1340 Ayenbite (1866) 85 (MED) He [sc. the virtuous man] heþ anoþre empire..uor he is emperour of him-zelue, þet is of his bodye.

a1450 York Plays (1885) 487 Farewele, nowe I passe to þe pereles empire.

1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection ii. sig. Svii Called to be inheritours of the celestiall empire.

1609 W. Shakespeare Pericles v. 91 These Fishers..from their watry empire recollect, All that may men approue, or men detect.

1709 J. Addison Tatler No. 154. ⁋2 Æneas is represented as descending into the Empire of Death.

1772 H. Mackenzie Man of World (1823) i. i. 241 Liberal minds will delight in extending the empire of virtue.

1820 P. B. Shelley Prometheus Unbound i. i. 15 Scorn and despair, these are mine empire.

1843 R. H. Horne Orion ii. i. 49 Thereto, Poseidon's empire rolled Too near, and might surround his towers with waves.

1988 P. Cloud Oasis in Space xvi. 429/2 Grasses appeared in the record of plant fossils, quickly generating the high prairies—to become the empire of the bison and later of the Cheyenne, the Arapahoe, and the Sioux.

2007 L. Sholes & J. Moore Hades Project 2 She alone stood in the way of Satan's ultimate goal: to claim all the souls on Earth to his Dark Empire.

a. An extensive territory under the control of a supreme ruler (typically an emperor) or an oligarchy, often consisting of an aggregate of many separate states or territories. In later use also: an extensive group of subject territories ultimately under the rule of a single sovereign state.Frequently with distinguishing word; some examples of this type, as British, Eastern, German, Roman, Western Empire, etc., are treated at the first element.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > rule or government > territorial jurisdiction or areas subject to > [noun] > aggregate of sovereign states under one rule

empirea1350

emperality1543

impery1549

empery1550

a1350 Short Metrical Chron. (Rawl.) 87 in PMLA (1931) 46 147/1 (MED) All thys were of hys ampyre.

a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) viii. l. 210 God hath beraft him [sc. Gayus Caligula]..his large empire.

?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) ii. 6 (MED) Adelard of Westsex was kyng of þe empire..guyour of ilk schire.

c1450 (a1400) Libeaus Desconus (Calig. A.ii) (1969) l. 843 A sercle..Of stones and of golde: Þe best yn þat enpyre.

1564 J. Bradford Frutefull Treat. against Feare of Death sig. D.vii Daniel plainly sheweth y^t the beastes, that is the empires of y^e world: shalbe cast into y^e fire.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Antony & Cleopatra (1623) i. i. 36 Let..the wide Arch Of the raing'd Empire fall.

1668 P. Rycaut Present State Ottoman Empire (new ed.) ii. xi. 127 The Shii are opposed by the Subjects of the whole Ottoman Empire, as the most heretical of any of the rest.

1685 D. Abercromby Disc. Wit xiv. 215 When he [sc. God] pleases to make choice of Women to rule over great Empires.

1709 F. F. Catrou tr. N. Manucci Gen. Hist. Mogol Empire (title page) The general history of the Mogol empire, from it's foundation by Tamerlane, to the late emperor Orangzeb.

1775 E. Burke Speech Resol. for Concil. Colonies 28 An Empire is the aggregate of many States, under one common head.

1776 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall I. iii. 60 The great chain of communication, from the north-west to the south-east point of the empire, was drawn out to the length of four thousand and eighty Roman miles.

1809 J. G. Jackson Acct. Empire of Marocco vii. 112 The houses at Mogodor are built as in other towns of the empire.

1852 Ld. Tennyson Ode Wellington i. 2 Bury the Great Duke with an empire's lamentation.

1883 Helena (Montana) Independent 2 Aug. 4/1 The astonishing growth of London is accounted for by its being the center of..an empire which ramificates all over the world.

1917 Crisis May 44/1 King of Wallou, Goudar and Bekember which are subsidiary states in the Abyssinian empire.

1980 Time 23 June 20/1 The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is not just a country, but an empire—the largest and probably the last, in history.

2005 Gay Times Dec. 80/2 During the long rule of the Ottoman Turks..in order to wield power in such a huge empire of differing faiths and nationalities, the influence of imams and priests was kept firmly under control.

b. With the (and in later use usually with capital initial), used to refer to certain specific empires.

(a) = Holy Roman Empire n. Now historical.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > rule or government > territorial jurisdiction or areas subject to > [noun] > aggregate of sovereign states under one rule > the Holy Roman or German Empire

RomeOE

empirec1485

German Empire1550

Roman Empire1583

Sacred Empire1617

Holy Roman Empire1698

c1485 ( G. Hay Bk. Law of Armys (2005) 199 It may be sustenyt yat the king of ffraunce..is jn nathing subiect to the empire.

?1510 T. More tr. G. F. Pico della Mirandola Lyfe I. Picus sig. a.i^v Federik the thryd of y^t name rulinge the empire.

1604 R. Dallington View of Fraunce sig. B^v So doe Lorraine also and Sauoy hold of the Empire.

1678 N. Wanley Wonders Little World v. i. §100. 468/2 Rodolphus the second..was forced to..content himself with..the Empire.

1720 D. Defoe Mem. Cavalier 37 The General Diet of the empire.

1797 Edinb. Mag. Feb. 148/2 The principle..laid down so distinctly as the basis of the peace to be made for the Empire.

1855 J. L. Motley Rise Dutch Republic (1858) I. ii. 146 With the Archduke Maximilian, all the imperial electors, and a concourse of the principal nobles of the empire.

1892 E. S. Beesly Queen Elizabeth iii. 22 Francis I. had intrigued with the Protestant princes of the Empire, and Charles had been obliged to humour them.

1931 E. D. Salmon Imperial Spain 107 Spanish viceroys in Naples and Sicily had permanent galley squadrons to defend the Italian shores of the Empire.

2006 R. J. W. Evans Austria, Hungary & Habsburgs iv. 56 Intellectual and artistic life accommodated themselves to the authority of increasingly well-ordered states within and besides the Empire.

(b) The British Empire; esp. the British possessions, dominions, and dependencies, as opposed to Great Britain itself. Now historical.Since the Statute of Westminster (1931), the usual term has been Commonwealth (commonwealth n. 6).On the history of the British Empire see note at British Empire n. 3a.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > rule or government > territorial jurisdiction or areas subject to > [noun] > aggregate of sovereign states under one rule > Commonwealth or former British Empire

British Empire1701

empire1769

commonwealth1917

1769 in Amer. Gaz. (1770) 392 All parts of the empire have been alarmed with..apprehensions of danger to his Majesty's government in North America.

1776 A. Smith Inq. Wealth of Nations II. v. iii. 586 Countries which contribute neither revenue nor military force towards the support of the empire .

1847 in J. C. Byrne Twelve Years Wanderings Brit. Colonies (1848) II. iii. 86 This gentleman asked whether the colony was to remain the sink-hole of the empire.

1862 Englishwoman's Domest. Mag. Jan. 136 ‘The Hope of the Empire’—the Prince of Wales.

1900 Daily News 25 Oct. 4/4 Was it too much to say that in this last twelve months the Empire had been born anew?

1917 R. Muir Char. Brit. Empire 13 The British Navy has made the growth of the Empire possible.

1934 ‘G. Orwell’ Burmese Days ii. 37 No natives in this Club! It's by constantly giving way over small things like that that we've ruined the Empire.

2010 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 15 July 6/2 His conservatism was resentful, about the end of the empire, the end of naval glory, the end of any glory.

(c) The aggregate of territories under the control of Napoleon Bonaparte as Emperor of the French, 1804–15; the period of this. Now historical.In later historical use sometimes referred to as First Empire, as distinct from sense A. 2b(d).

ΚΠ

1804 Cobbett's Weekly Polit. Reg. May 749 I assent to it, persuaded that if the empire is the price of the virtues of the great man who is called to the imperial dignity, the succession to it by the family guarantees to France ages of glory and of repose.

1830 W. Hazlitt Life Napoleon Buonaparte III. xxxiv. 114 If the reign of terror excited their fears and horror, the establishment of the Empire under Buonaparte seemed an even greater affront.

1872 Young Englishwoman Dec. 645/1 The fourreau dress, reminding one of modes of the First Empire.

1904 R. M. Johnston Napoleon viii. 111 In 1805 began the first of the three great cycles of the wars of the empire.

1992 E. Dubois in C. Blank Lang. & Civilization I. 627 The French Revolution..exported some new vocabulary to England, as did the First Empire.

2007 R. Pawly Napoleon's Polish Lancers of Imperial Guard 24 With the incorporation of Holland into the Empire, Napoleon transformed former Guard units of the King of Holland into a second lancer regiment.

(d) The aggregate of territories under the control of Napoleon III as Emperor of the French, 1852–70; the period of this. Frequently as Second Empire; cf. sense A. 2b(c). Now historical.

ΚΠ

1853 C. Gilliess tr. Vicomte de la Guéronnière Napoleon the Third 129 The Empire is accepted as a glorious inheritance and as a great duty by Louis Napoleon.

1863 A. W. Kinglake Invasion of Crimea II. iii. 67 He [sc. Napoleon III] was very willing to try to earn for the restored Empire that kind of station and title which the newest of dynasties may acquire by signal achievements in war.

1873 Young Englishwoman Feb. 77/1 The multifarious skirts and retroussis of the Second Empire régime.

1904 M. Beerbohm Around Theatres (1924) II. 60 My imagination roved back to lose itself in the golden haze of the Second Empire.

2001 J. R. Lehning To Be Citizen 22 In November 1873, after the fall of the Empire and the tentative establishment of the Republic, he [sc. Jules Grévy] once again rejected the notion of a plebiscite.

†3. A country that is not subject to any foreign authority; an independent nation. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > rule or government > territorial jurisdiction or areas subject to > [noun] > territory governed by a ruler or state > independent or autonomous

empire1532

independency1817

1532–3 Act 24 Hen. VIII c. 12 This realme of England is an Impire.

1698 S. Johnson Confut. of Ballancing Let. 17 There was never such a scorn put upon the English Nation, which is a free independent Empire.

1765 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. I. 242 The legislature..uses..empire..to assert that our king is..sovereign and independent within these his dominions.

4. Usually with distinguishing word: a particular section or part of society perceived as very large or powerful; spec. a group of businesses or other commercial enterprises owned or controlled by one person or group of people. Cf. business empire n. at business n. Compounds 5.

ΚΠ

1837 Globe (Washington, D.C.) 13 Oct. Even with our limited essays towards a bankrupt system, we have scaled the outworks of the banking empire; we have laid hold of bankers, but not of banks.

1845 York Herald 2 Aug. 7/2 Mr. Hudson's railway empire.—The following lines are under Mr. Hudson's direct management and influence.

1866 Temple Bar Jan. 212 The Act of Emancipation..is generally referred to by the planters as the date of the decline of their sugar empire.

1930 X marks Spot 40/1 Capone had left the management of his empire largely in the hands of Frank Nitti, known as the ‘enforcer’.

1967 J. Wain Smaller Sky 51 He had..gained control of a number of local newspapers; built up an impressive medium-sized empire.

1990 W. M. Brasch Forerunners of Revol. 65 He [sc. William Randolph Hearst] controlled the largest media empire in America.

2008 Independent 20 Mar. 16/1 In London, his empire spans five fine-dining restaurants,..three gastro-pubs and a brasserie.

II. Senses relating to rule or government.

a. Supreme and extensive dominion or sovereignty; esp. that exercised by an emperor, or by a sovereign state over its subject territories.In later use frequently: the system or culture that characterizes an empire.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > power > [noun] > political or national power > extensive

empirec1390

society > authority > rule or government > sole rule > [noun] > rule of emperor

empirec1390

imperialty1602

c1390 in C. Brown Relig. Lyrics 14th Cent. (1924) 141 Þei þou haue kyngdam [MS kyngdan] and Empyre.

c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness (1920) l. 1332 For alle his empire so hiȝe, in erþe is he [sc. Nabugodenozar] grauen.

1513 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid vi. xv. 14 To rewle the pepill vndir thyne impyre.

1535 Bible (Coverdale) 2 Chron. xxxvi. 20 They became his seruauntes..tyll the Persians had the empyre.

1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie i. xxiii. 37 Your Maiestie..haue shewed your selfe..vertuous and worthy of Empire.

1596 J. Dalrymple tr. J. Leslie Hist. Scotl. (1888) I. 3 Vnder the Impire of Ingland.

1681 H. Neville Plato Redivivus Pref. Many Treatises..alledged..That Empire was founded in Property.

1715 A. Pope Temple of Fame 31 And swam to Empire thro' the purple Flood.

1799 Amer. Museum 1798 42/1 A directory..will forever aim at an undue empire over other nations.

1821 Ld. Byron Sardanapalus i. i. 5 Thirteen hundred years Of empire ending like a shepherd's tale.

1899 Open Court July 427 Help uphold empire, law, and peace.

1962 S. Wynter Hills of Hebron xv. 189 And the piece of paper with the marks of the chiefs and the red seal was the tangible ratification of their dream of empire.

1990 Jazz FM No. 1. 36/3 The days of Empire are recalled in the grand surroundings of the Queen's Hotel.

2012 Independent 27 Jan. (Arts & Bks. section) 22/4 He will also probe further the notions of empire, decolonisation and nation.

b. In extended use. Supreme command; complete or paramount influence, absolute sway; dominance, control.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > [noun] > absolute authority

empery1529

wilful empire1533

empire1579

dictatorship1580

imperiousness1630

incorrigibilitya1631

tyranny1651

despotism1797

c1400 (?c1380) Pearl l. 454 My Lady..haldeȝ þe empyre ouer vus ful hyȝe.

a1500 (?c1450) Merlin (1899) vi. 105 Byfore that I be sacred and receyved the honoure of the empere.

1579 W. Fulke Confut. Treat. N. Sander in D. Heskins Ouerthrowne 628 What Empyre hath Master Sander in Grammer.

a1616 W. Shakespeare All's Well that ends Well (1623) i. i. 60 Thy blood and vertue Contend for Empire in thee.

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost i. 114 To..deifie his power Who from the terrour of this Arm so late Doubted his Empire .

1742 D. Hume Ess. Moral & Polit. II. ix. 157 The Empire of Philosophy extends over a few.

1838 E. Bulwer-Lytton Alice I. iii. viii. 310 You know the strange empire you have obtained over me.

1883 R. L. Stevenson Treasure Island iii. xiv. 113 Silence had re-established its empire.

1925 A. Bennett Clayhanger Family ii. xii. 236 He saw the meek, stupid, and superstitious faces,..all for the moment under the empire of one horrible idea.

1995 V. J. Cheng Joyce, Race, & Empire ii. 58 For the young Stephen Dedalus, the various and constraining structures of authority and institutional power are imperial in that they have empire over him, they deny him personal autonomy and personal home rule.

6. The reign of an emperor; the office or position of emperor; = emperorship n.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > sovereign ruler or monarch > emperor > [noun] > position or dignity of

emperyc1325

empirea1450

emperorship1574

imperiousness1574

empiredoma1626

imperialness1677

Kaisership1855

Kaiserdom1871

Kaiserate1881

a1450 (?c1400) Three Kings Cologne (Royal) (1886) 21 Octauianus..in þe ȝeer of his Empire .xlij.

c1520 M. Nisbet New Test. in Scots (1901) I. Luke iii. 1 In the xv yere of the impire of Tiberie Cesare.

1606 G. W. tr. Epit. Liues Emperors in tr. Justinus Hist. sig. Kk 3^v He died..in the fiftene year of his empire.

1687 Bp. G. Burnet tr. Lactantius Relation Death Primitive Persecutors 96 Diocletian..had studied to preserve the Common-wealth in a good State during his Empire.

1750 T. Carte Gen. Hist. Eng. II. vii. 166 Conrad archbishop of Cologne..had been very serviceable to him [sc. Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall] in his election to the empire.

1793 Beawes's Civil Hist. Spain & Portugal II. x. 76 The famous Division of the Metropolitans of Spain, made during the Empire of Constantine the Great.

1845 J. Lingard Hist. & Antiq. Anglo-Saxon Church (ed. 3) I. i. 6 The elevation of Constantine to the empire.

1863 H. H. Milman Hist. Jews (ed. 3) III. xxx. 452 The author asserts himself to have been born during the Empire of Julius Cæsar.

1888 Eng. Hist. Rev. 3 35 The father of Valentine stood in much the same situation as afterwards the Great Napoleon, in the first years of his empire.

1924 K. Aiyangar Hist. Nayaks of Madura vii. 100 Venkaṭapati succeeded to the empire and almost the first act of his reign was the suppression of a rebellion in Madura.

1942 Speculum 17 271 The twenty-four years of his empire are thus computed..from the year in which he received the title of Augustus.

2011 Woman's Era (Nexis) 10 Oct. Kundan jewellery..was very much in vogue in the state of Rajasthan during the empire of the Rajputs.

7. The system of government in command of an empire (sense A. 2).

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > rule or government > a or the system of government > monarchical government > [noun] > imperial government

imperialism1684

empire1806

Caesarism1857

Kaiserism1863

1806 Cobbett's Weekly Polit. Reg. 16 Aug. 234 Lord Grenville has..assured us, that this [French nation] under Empire is in a most flourishing state.

1834 O. P. Q. in Spectator 22 Nov. 1112/2 An old bankrupt employé of the Empire.

1850 C. Merivale (title) A history of the Romans under the Empire.

1902 J. H. Rose Life Napoleon I I. xx. 470 At Metz, the troops and populace fretted against the Empire and its pretentious pomp.

1944 Internat. Affairs 20 1 He was a great public servant of the Empire, outstanding in his long devoted service in India.

2007 H. Gay Hist. of Imperial College 221 Frederick John Dealtry Lugard (1858–1945) was a soldier and administrator of empire.

III. Senses deriving from sense A. 2b(c).

8. Any of various styles of furniture that imitate those prevalent during the period of the first French empire (1804–15; see sense A. 2b(c)). Cf. sense B. 1b.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > fashionableness > [adjective] > specific fashions

pompadour1756

regency1811

Lavallière1873

greenery-yallery1881

empire1887

Régence1891

sporty1895

Gibson1901

Beatle1963

mod1964

1887 Decorator & Furnisher 11 108/3 M. DeBerard..will present the characteristic features of the leading styles, such as the Empire, Louis XIV., XV., XVI., Queen Anne, etc.

1889 R. Brook Elem. Style Furnit. 29 As in all other French styles, ‘Empire’ was closely imitated in this country.

1912 Internat. Studio Jan. 232/1 Baroque, rococo, empire and Biedermeier are represented in some choice rooms executed by the architect Lessing and Mr. Weber.

2002 Old House Interiors Apr. 38/2 Some pieces will seem exceptionally heavy; others incorporate turnings and curves unlike what we commonly associate with Empire.

B. adj.

a. Fashion. Of a woman's garment, or a style of garment: characteristic of the first French empire (1804–15; see sense A. 2b(c)); resembling that which was popular during this period; esp. having a waistline that is just below the bust, and often a skirt that is long, loose, and straight; (of a waistline) positioned just below the bust; cf. empire dress n., empire line n. and adj., empire-waisted adj. at Compounds 2.

ΘΚΠ

the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > [adjective] > other

smalleOE

lightc1230

round1402

side-necked1430

wanton1489

Spanish1530

tucked1530

lustya1555

civil1582

open-breasted1598

full1601

everlasting1607

sheeten1611

nothinga1616

burly1651

pin-up1677

slouching1691

double-breasted1701

negligée1718

translated1727

uniform1746

undress1777

single-breasted1796

unworn1798

mamalone1799

costumic1801

safeguard1822

Tom and Jerry1830

lightweight1837

fancy dress1844

wrap-1845

hen-skin1846

Mary Stuart1846

well-cut1849

mousquetaire1851

empire1852

costumary1853

solid1859

spring weight1869

Henri II1870

western1881

hard-boiled1882

man-of-war1883

Henley1886

demi-season1890

Gretchen1890

toreador1892

crossover1893

French cut1896

drifty1897

boxy1898

Buster Brown1902

Romney1903

modistic1907

Peter Pan1908

classic1909

Fauntleroy1911

baby doll1912

flared1928

flare1929

tuck-in1929

unpressed1932

Edwardian1934

swingy1937

topless1937

wraparound1937

dressed-down1939

cover-up1942

Sun Yat-sen1942

utility1942

non-utility1948

sudsable1951

off-the-shoulder1953

peasant1953

flareless1954

A-line1955

matador1955

stretch1956

wash-and-wear1959

layered1962

Tom Jones1964

Carnaby Street1965

Action Man1966

Mao-style1967

wear-dated1968

thermal1970

bondage1980

swaggery1980

hoochie1990

mitumba1990

kinderwhore1994

1852 Ladies' Compan. May 278/1 It [sc. the style of dress] approaches to the Empire style, which, it is said, is creeping in, in various details of the toilette, but only in the best details.

1870 O. Logan Before Footlights 292 How do you manage to pay $60 for your new but ugly little Empire bonnet?

1901 Daily Chron. 29 June 8/3 One girl was a remarkable vision in a creamy white cloth Empire coat.

1956 Life 5 Mar. 69 (heading) Empire silhouette breaks out simultaneously in U.S. and Paris.

2001 Mode Aug. 28/2 In the symbolic language of film costumes, an empire waist means ‘aristocratic virgin’.

b. Of furniture, porcelain, etc.: characteristic of the first French empire (1804–15; see sense A. 2b(c)); made in a style that was popular during this period.

ΚΠ

1868 G. A. Sala Notes & Sketches Paris Exhib. xxiii. 333 There is nothing more tasteless, perhaps,..as that ‘Empire’ style to which I have more than once made allusion.

1869 C. Schreiber Jrnl. (1911) I. 29 Green cup and saucer, imitating ‘Empire’ Sèvres.

1889 R. Brook Elem. Style Furnit. 29 It is impossible to have a better authority on ‘Empire’ Furniture, than the book of designs published in Paris, by the architects, Percier and Fontaine, in 1809.

1904 H. E. Binstead Furnit. Styles x. 116 It is never difficult to determine what is Empire.

1951 N. Mitford Blessing i. xii. 122 In those days there was an Empire dressing-table with a marble top, very ugly.

1985 N.Y. Mag. 11 Mar. 64/3 The Dream, that florid comic opera in which a Gauguinesque woman reclines on a red velvet Empire sofa in the midst of a throbbing jungle.

2. Of wines or spirits: produced in the dominions of the British Empire (later the Commonwealth), and imported into Great Britain. Now historical.

ΚΠ

1919 Times 26 Apr. I was amazed at the number of letters I received from members of the public, asking where and how they could obtain supplies of Empire wines.

1937 W. H. Auden in W. H. Auden & L. MacNeice Lett. from Iceland v. 57 Someone may think that Empire wines are nice.

1954 P. Frankau Wreath for Enemy iii. v. 210 You would look like an advertisement for Empire Burgundy.

1965 R. Jeffries Dead against Lawyers ix. 94 I can offer you Empire sherry or a beer?

2005 K. Farrer To feed Nation xii. 119 Exports were promoted by..the British Government's preferential duty on all Empire wines the next year [sc. 1925].

Phrases

P1.

Empire of the Rising Sun n. (a name given to) Japan. Now somewhat archaic. [Compare earlier land (also country, island, kingdom, etc.) of the rising sun at rising sun n. Phrases and rising sun n. 4a. Compare Japanese Dai Nippon Teikoku , lit. ‘Great Empire of Japan’ or ‘Empire of Great Japan’ (1889; official name of the country 1890–1945), based on the earlier name Nippon-koku , lit. ‘land of the origin of the sun’ (see Nippon n.).]

ΚΠ

1860 N.Y. Times 5 May 1/4 Even in this locality of excitements, the population is on tiptoe of expectation, in view of the coming delegation from the Empire of the Rising Sun.

1890 Morning Post 26 July 5/2 The writer..devotes some interesting pages to an account of a visit to the Japanese inland watering-place Kusatsu, renowned throughout the Empire of the Rising Sun for the medicinal virtues of its hot springs.

1936 Amer. Sociol. Rev. 1 455 Social thought in the broadest sense has never been lacking in the Empire of the Rising Sun.

1991 V. Bugliosi Sea will Tell ii. 28 A five-inch-gun battery on the island chased off the would-be raider. After that, the Empire of the Rising Sun expressed no interest in the isolated atoll.

2011 C. Shirley December 1941 (2013) i. 17 The accepted wisdom was that..if things turned bad for Hitler on the Russian front, the Empire of the Rising Sun would shrink from any military against the British or the Free French in the Far East.

P2.

empire of the sun n. (a) poetic the domain of the sun; (b) (a name given to) an empire, country, or other region associated with the sun or a sun god; spec. (in later use) Japan (now somewhat archaic). [With reference to South America apparently reflecting the Incas' view of themselves as descendants of the sun god (compare Spanish hijos del sol , lit. ‘children of the sun’ (mid 16th cent.)).

With reference to Japan compare Empire of the Rising Sun n. at Phrases 1.]

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1685 A. Behn Pindarick Poem on Happy Coronation 5 With life-giving Rule the God maintains The Glorious Empire of the Sun.

1751 tr. I. H. de La Marche-Courmant Lett. of Aza, Peruvian v. 12 The first ships expected on the coast you inhabit, are from the empire of the Sun [Fr. la terre du Soleil].

1826 Lancet 23 Sept. 830/2 The Chinese allow no books to be brought within the great empire of the sun.

1840 W. B. Tappan Poet's Tribute 308 Unhappy India!—empire of the sun!—Rich in the gifts of nature, yet undone.

1859 New Monthly Mag. 115 4 Nip-pun, or Nip-pon,..‘Sun-source country’, the Empire of the Sun, has been justly compared by Kæmpfer to Great Britain and Ireland.

1883 World's Cycl. Sci. III. 88/1 To complete this sketch of the Empire of the Sun, we must add..certain bodies which, without departing from his kingdom, are always journeying.

1890 Harper's New Monthly Mag. 1 Dec. 864 The ruling Inca sent them teachers, not only to instruct them in the religion and laws of the Empire of the Sun.

1913 Pennsylvania Mag. Hist. & Biogr. 37 262 These broad waters..were the pathway which Europe traversed in her search for a passage to Cathay; here was once the entrance to the realms of gold, to the gleaming empire of the sun.

1937 E. Caldwell You have seen their Faces (1995) i. 1 It is the Southern Extremity of America, the Empire of the Sun, the Cotton States... It is The South.

1985 Guardian 3 Jan. 13/5 (headline) A shadow drifts over the empire of the sun. Robert Whymant reports from Tokyo.

2010 G. E. Salecker Blossoming Silk against Rising Sun iii. 22 In 1905, after Japan's defeat of Russia.., the Empire of the Sun took control of all of Korea and a part of Manchuria that had earlier been gobbled up by the Russians.

Compounds

C1.

a. General attributive, esp. in uses corresponding to imperial adj. 1.

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1840 Bengal Catholic Expositor 7 Nov. 278/2 I see he cries, amid the waste of night, The world's wide tomb, Death's empire throne is here.

1847 Christian Wreath 167 O'er the towering dome of the empire-palace.

1864 E. B. Pusey Daniel ii. 66 The great empire-plan of Alexander.

1902 C. E. Benton As seen from Ranks xxvi. 289 The Southern leaders now began to realize that their empire ambition was like the prisoner in the fabled ‘Iron Chamber’.

1946 Jrnl. Land & Public Utility Econ. 22 264/2 Turnor's effort to make the settlement schemes an Empire Plan came to naught since individual nationalism was stronger.

1982 T. Johnson in A. Giddens & G. Mackenzie Social Class & Div. of Labour 198 The British professions ‘universalised’ their qualifications in the cause of empire expansion.

2002 L. H. Butler Brit. & Empire v. 139 Writing to the Lord President of the Committee, the ‘die-hard’ empire enthusiast Lord Salisbury, Macmillan said [etc.].

b. Objective. Cf. empire builder n., empire building n.

empire-maker n.

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1877 Funny Folks 10 Nov. Who should sceptres wield But those Empire-makers.

1903 Westm. Gaz. 1 June 12/3 Gazing out across the silent waters at the granite hills that have seen the passage of how many empire-makers.

2004 B. Singer & J. Langdon Cultured Force Introd. 9 But though he became an enlightened despot of the Napoleonic stamp.., he was actually no great fan of the diminutive empire-maker in Europe.

empire-making n. and adj.

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1831 Morning Post 13 June He is heartily tired of Constitution-making, Empire-making, Loan-making, and Queen-making.

1894 Daily News 29 Jan. 5/2 Mr. Rhodes is an Empire-making man.

1938 M. J. Bonn Crumbling of Empire ii. 101 A decolonization movement is sweeping over the continents. An age of empire-breaking is following an age of empire-making.

1995 M. J. Schueller in L. Quinby Geneal. & Lit. iv. 49 When Melville published Typee in 1844, U.S. rhetoric on empire making was well established.

2007 R. Martin Empire of Indifference 2 The present terror war joins the complex legacy of empire-making race war that Hilferding identifies.

C2.

empire biscuit n. chiefly Scottish a type of sandwich biscuit consisting of two round pieces of shortcake with a jam filling, topped with icing and (typically) a glacé cherry.In quot. 1886 it is unclear what type of biscuit is being described.Empire biscuit is said to have replaced its synonym German biscuit as the usual name of this type of biscuit around the time of the First World War (1914–18) in order to avoid the perceived negative connotations of the latter.

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1886 Leeds Mercury 27 Feb. (advt.) Wm. Low and Company, 6, Briggate, Leeds, are Retailing Dundee-made Biscuits... The ‘Empire’ Biscuit (registered) is the Talk of the Country.

1928 Auckland Star 1 Sept. 4/2 Those pleasant little combinations of shortbread, icing sugar, raspberry jam and crystallised cherries called in the good old pre-war days ‘German’, now Teutophobically changed to ‘Empire’, biscuits.

1985 M. Munro Patter 76 Who's wheeched the last empire biscuit?

2000 Edinb. Evening News 5 Dec. 17 Empire biscuits, or known to me in those pre-PC days as German biscuits... I loved to run my razor-sharp baby teeth through the icing—after munching the glace cherry on top.

Empire City n. (also with lower-case initials) chiefly U.S. (a nickname for) the city of New York; cf. Empire State n.In later use Big Apple is more common; see Big Apple n. 4.

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1833 United States' Tel. 18 Apr. If any sister craft can out jump the Walter—whether in the port of the empire city, or in any of the harbors along shore,..and parts adjacent, it would be well to have it known.

1857 W. Chandless Visit Salt Lake II. v. 222 The mint julep, that in the Crescent City you may enjoy for ten cents, costs you twelve and half in the Empire city.

1944 Newsweek 24 July 82/3 The Empire City meeting is typical of wartime racing.

2009 S. Schneider Iced iv. 169/1 Jack Pollakowitz was also eyeballed as a co-conspirator and Pincus Brecher was fingered for pushing the smeck in the Big Apple. Both were indicted in the Empire City a few weeks later.

empire cloth n. cloth treated with an insulating liquid (esp. varnish), and used as an electrical insulator; a sheet or piece of this.

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1898 Physical Rev. 7 207 Empire Cloth and Paper.—This is a trade name applied to cloth or paper treated with a liquid insulating medium, such as oil, which dries in and between the fibers and forms a continuous insulating sheet.

1913 A. P. Fleming & R. Johnson Insulation & Design of Electr. Windings iii. 107 Except in the case of Empire cloth no appreciable deterioration in the insulation was noted.

1945 Electronic Engin. 17 498 Among the insulating materials affected are..all cellulose products such as paper, varnished fabric, empire cloth and insulating tape.

1989 A. C. Davies Sci. & Pract. Welding (ed. 9) I. iv. 169 Amongst the best and most familiar insulators are glass, porcelain, rubber, shellac, mica, oiled silk, empire cloths, oils, resins, bitumen, paper, etc.

Empire Day n. now historical a day dedicated to the celebration of the British Empire, esp. commemorating assistance given to Britain by its colonies during the Boer War (1899–1902); now replaced by Commonwealth Day (see commonwealth n. 6).First observed in Canada in 1899, where it was celebrated on the last school day before May 24, being the birthday of Queen Victoria.

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1898 Dominion Educ. Assoc. Minutes of Proc. 5 Aug. in Ann. Rep. Superintendent Educ. on Public Schools Nova Scotia (1899) App. E. 200 Resolved: That this Association recommends that the school day immediately preceding May 24th, be set apart as ‘Empire Day’.

1899 Mercury 14 Jan. 3/4 There is a good deal to be said for the suggestion, attributed to the Canadian Government, that a certain fixed date in every year should be observed as a gala day in all parts of the Empire. The institution of an annual ‘Empire Day’, to be celebrated wherever the British flag flies,..would perpetuate that striking object-lesson in Imperial unity which was afforded by the world-wide rejoicings of the Diamond Jubilee Day.

1922 G. K. Chesterton Ballad St. Barbara 74 For the spots are all red and the rest is all grey, And that is the meaning of Empire Day.

1947 Williamstown (Austral.) Chron. 23 May 1/5 State schools of the district fittingly celebrated Empire Day on Friday last, prior to breaking up for a week's vacation.

2001 M. H. Moss Manliness & Militarism iii. 42 Empire Day was the [Canadian] schoolchild's opportunity to bask in the imperial sun and to celebrate the greatness of Britain.

empire dress n. Fashion a dress having a waistline just below the bust, and a skirt that is long, loose, and straight; cf. sense B. 1a.

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1852 Illustr. London News 30 Oct. 348/2 From behind, the skirt seemed rather narrow and bare, somewhat reminding one of the Empire dresses.

1866 Englishwoman's Domest. Mag. May 158/2 Paper models,..of the costumes illustrated in this plate, at the following prices:—Empire dress complete, 5s. 6d.; walking jacket, 3s. 6d.; [etc.].

1887 Academy 18 June 440/1 She wore, of course, an Empire dress.

1967 E. Short Embroidery & Fabric Collage ii. 41 The same design would have been unthinkable on say an Empire dress of seventy years earlier.

2004 J. Colgan Do you remember First Time? xvi. 305 Tash's little niece,..restored to bridesmaiding duties in the lovely empire dress.

Empire Games n. now historical (a) a sporting contest in which teams representing the United Kingdom and certain dominions of the British Empire competed as part of the Festival of Empire celebrations held at the Crystal Palace, London, in 1911; (b) = British Empire Games n. at British Empire n. Compounds.

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1911 Hutchinson (Kansas) News 9 June 2/5 Athletes selected by the Canadian Amateur Athletic Union to represent the Dominion in the Festival of Empire games at London.]

1912 Times of India 22 May 7 Some suggestions..were made at the end of the Empire Games at the Crystal Palace last year.

1929 Times 2 Dec. 7/1 The subject of the Empire Games to be held in Canada next year was fully discussed.

2012 S. J. Potter Broadcasting Empire v. 160 Every four years, the Empire Games offered opportunities for a more explicit harnessing of sport to the cause of empire and Commonwealth unity.

Empire-grown adj. now historical grown in the British Empire; spec. grown in a British dominion or dependency, and imported into Great Britain.

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1901 Empire Rev. 1 370 A concession in support of Empire-grown wine.

1926 M. Lowry Let. 29 Apr. in Sursum Corda! (1995) I. 17 We sallied forth.., armed with our pipes and plenty of navy cut, or in my case Empire grown shag.

2001 Jrnl. Econ. Hist. 61 157 A serious campaign was launched to persuade consumers to buy Empire-grown teas.

empire line n. and adj. Fashion (a) n. a cut or shape that is characteristic of an empire dress, with a waistline just below the bust, and usually a skirt that is long, loose, and straight; (also in early use) a horizontal line running just below the bust, where the bodice joins the lower part of a garment; (b) adj. (esp. of a dress) having an empire line.

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1911 Good Housek. Mag. Oct. 500 The Empire line and the large patch side-pockets add new touches.

1917 E. Burbank Woman as Decoration xxvii. 312 A dinner-dress of black Chantilly lace, over white chiffon (Empire lines).

1952 N.Y. Times 16 Jan. 4/6 The Empire-line dress with silk taffeta bodice.

1958 Vogue Apr. 18 (advt.) Choose this Empire-line charmer in swirling full length.

1999 T. Iakovou & J. Iakovou There lies Hidden Scorpion 104 Dressed for church in a flowing challis dress with an empire line.

2010 Wedding Ideas Nov. 146/1 ‘I was adamant that I didn't want anything lacy or heavily beaded,’ says Kelly... Her vintage-style empire line gown was from Benjamin Roberts.

Empire Marketing Board n. now historical a body set up to promote the development of the market in Great Britain for the produce of its dominions and dependencies.Abolished in 1933.

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1926 Financial Times 23 Apr. No meeting of the Empire Marketing Board had yet been held.

1927 Daily Tel. 5 Mar. 8/7 The Empire Marketing Board for the development of the market for Dominion produce in Great Britain.

1933 Times 28 July 10/2 Sir,—May I use your columns to make a strong plea that the Empire Marketing Board should be continued as the national business asset that it is?

2000 J. Caughie Television Drama i. 27 On his return to Britain, he went to see Stephen Tailents, the civil servant in charge of the recently established Empire Marketing Board.

† empire-race n. Obsolete rare a race in command of an empire; a supremely powerful race.

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a1860 W. B. Weed Sermons (1861) 242 The most perfect in faculties of all the races of creatures with which the Almighty has stocked this planet—the empire race of earth's inhabitants.

1878 J. Morley Condorcet 52 Its desire to be an empire-race.

Empire State n. chiefly U.S. (a nickname for) the state of New York; also applied to other states with regional modifier, esp. to the state of Georgia (as Empire State of the South).

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1820 B. Silliman Remarks Tour Hartford & Quebec 65 Albany contains from ten to twelve thousand inhabitants, and is the second city in the State (we might almost say empire,) of New-York.]

1830 Poulson's Amer. Daily Advertiser (Philadelphia) 9 Nov. 2/5 Mr. Richards, the Mayor of Philadelphia, then rose and said..‘I present the following sentiment: “New York—The Empire State, and Emporium City”’.

1860 Leisure Hour 29 Nov. 765/2 Illinois, the ‘Empire State’ of the mighty West.

1903 N.Y. Evening Post The saloon men of Tennessee have not, perhaps, the literary finish..of their brethren in the Empire State.

2008 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 9 Oct. 47/2 We, the empire state of the South, the jewel of the South, the great state of Georgia.

2010 Times-Union (Albany, N.Y.) (Nexis) 19 Jan. 22 I'm a real Albanian, not from Albania but from Albany, the capital city of the Empire State.

empire tree n. now rare an empire (esp. a colonial empire) considered as a tree, in growing from a small size, bearing fruit, etc.

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1851 Gentleman's Mag. 121 ii. 54 God bless'd the empire-tree which thou didst plant.

1907 N.Z. Parl. Deb. 142 91/1 The Colonel went on to compare New Zealand to a ripe plum ready to be knocked off the Empire tree.

1933 L. Roberts So this is Ottawa vii. 126 The imperial foregathering of 1926 again tapped the Empire tree and drew forth new juices.

empire-waisted adj. Fashion (of a person) wearing a garment with a high waistline; (of a garment) having such a waistline; cf. sense B. 1a.

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1895 Evening Post (Denver) 23 July 3/2 Miss Sawdy..said she guessed she would speak to her papa about it, anyhow. The empire waisted woman nearly screamed, ‘But indeed you mustn't.’

a1910 ‘O. Henry’ Sixes & Sevens (1916) xiii. 129 High-collared, baggy, empire-waisted, ample-skirted.

1952 N.Y. Times 14 Feb. 31/2 A checked wool spencer jacket and Empire-waisted skirt.

1970 Jet 8 Jan. 42 The bride..wore a white velvet empire-waisted gown sprinkled with pearls.

2003 D. Fulbrook in S. P. Pucci & J. Thompson Jane Austen & Co. ix. 208 The cover..pictures a dark-haired empire-waisted heroine who might easily be mistaken for Austen.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2014; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

单词	empire
释义	empiren.adj. Brit. /ˈɛmpʌɪə/, U.S. /ˈɛmˌpaɪ(ə)r/ Forms: α. Middle English empeyr, Middle English enpir, Middle English enpyre, Middle English 1600s empir, Middle English–1500s empyere, Middle English–1600s empere, Middle English–1600s empyre, Middle English– empire, 1500s empeir, 1500s empeire, 1500s emper, 1500s empeyre, 1500s empier, 1500s empyr, 1500s–1600s empyer; Scottish pre-1700 empyir, pre-1700 empyr, pre-1700 empyre, pre-1700 1700s– empire; N.E.D. (1891) also records forms Middle English emper, Middle English empyr. β. Middle English ampyre. γ. Middle English imparre, Middle English ympyre, Middle English–1600s impire, 1500s–1600s impyre; Scottish pre-1700 impir, pre-1700 impire, pre-1700 impyir, pre-1700 impyre. Also with capital initial. Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymon: French empire. Etymology: < Anglo-Norman emper, empere, empir, enpire, Anglo-Norman and Middle French, French empire (noun) extensive territory under the control of a supreme ruler (c1135 in Old French), power, authority (1139), supreme dominion, sovereignty, authority (1334 or earlier), the Holy Roman Empire (a1399 or earlier), the reign of an emperor (a1444 or earlier), the aggregate of territories under the control of Napoleon I as Emperor of the French (1804), the aggregate of territories under the control of Napoleon III as Emperor of the French (1852), (adjective) (of clothing, furniture, etc.) characteristic of the period of the first French empire (1833) < classical Latin imperium imperium n. Compare Old Occitan emperi , Catalan imperi (13th cent.; also †emperi , 15th cent.), Spanish imperio , †emperio (both first half of the 13th cent.), Portuguese império (14th cent.; 13th cent. as †emperio , †empeiro ), Italian impero (second half of the 13th cent.; c1225 as †imperio ). Compare empery n. and foreign-language forms cited at that entry.The concept of imperium evolved through the classical Latin and post-classical Latin periods in ways broadly similar to that of imperātor (see discussion at emperor n.). A. n. I. Senses relating to a territory or group of territories with a single ruler or shared source of authority. 1. Anything considered as or likened to a realm or domain having an absolute ruler, such as heaven, hell, the oceans, etc. ΚΠ 1340 Ayenbite (1866) 85 (MED) He [sc. the virtuous man] heþ anoþre empire..uor he is emperour of him-zelue, þet is of his bodye. a1450 York Plays (1885) 487 Farewele, nowe I passe to þe pereles empire. 1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection ii. sig. Svii Called to be inheritours of the celestiall empire. 1609 W. Shakespeare Pericles v. 91 These Fishers..from their watry empire recollect, All that may men approue, or men detect. View more context for this quotation 1709 J. Addison Tatler No. 154. ⁋2 Æneas is represented as descending into the Empire of Death. 1772 H. Mackenzie Man of World (1823) i. i. 241 Liberal minds will delight in extending the empire of virtue. 1820 P. B. Shelley Prometheus Unbound i. i. 15 Scorn and despair, these are mine empire. 1843 R. H. Horne Orion ii. i. 49 Thereto, Poseidon's empire rolled Too near, and might surround his towers with waves. 1988 P. Cloud Oasis in Space xvi. 429/2 Grasses appeared in the record of plant fossils, quickly generating the high prairies—to become the empire of the bison and later of the Cheyenne, the Arapahoe, and the Sioux. 2007 L. Sholes & J. Moore Hades Project 2 She alone stood in the way of Satan's ultimate goal: to claim all the souls on Earth to his Dark Empire. 2. a. An extensive territory under the control of a supreme ruler (typically an emperor) or an oligarchy, often consisting of an aggregate of many separate states or territories. In later use also: an extensive group of subject territories ultimately under the rule of a single sovereign state.Frequently with distinguishing word; some examples of this type, as British, Eastern, German, Roman, Western Empire, etc., are treated at the first element. ΘΚΠ society > authority > rule or government > territorial jurisdiction or areas subject to > [noun] > aggregate of sovereign states under one rule empirea1350 emperality1543 impery1549 empery1550 a1350 Short Metrical Chron. (Rawl.) 87 in PMLA (1931) 46 147/1 (MED) All thys were of hys ampyre. a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) viii. l. 210 God hath beraft him [sc. Gayus Caligula]..his large empire. ?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) ii. 6 (MED) Adelard of Westsex was kyng of þe empire..guyour of ilk schire. c1450 (a1400) Libeaus Desconus (Calig. A.ii) (1969) l. 843 A sercle..Of stones and of golde: Þe best yn þat enpyre. 1564 J. Bradford Frutefull Treat. against Feare of Death sig. D.vii Daniel plainly sheweth y^t the beastes, that is the empires of y^e world: shalbe cast into y^e fire. a1616 W. Shakespeare Antony & Cleopatra (1623) i. i. 36 Let..the wide Arch Of the raing'd Empire fall. View more context for this quotation 1668 P. Rycaut Present State Ottoman Empire (new ed.) ii. xi. 127 The Shii are opposed by the Subjects of the whole Ottoman Empire, as the most heretical of any of the rest. 1685 D. Abercromby Disc. Wit xiv. 215 When he [sc. God] pleases to make choice of Women to rule over great Empires. 1709 F. F. Catrou tr. N. Manucci Gen. Hist. Mogol Empire (title page) The general history of the Mogol empire, from it's foundation by Tamerlane, to the late emperor Orangzeb. 1775 E. Burke Speech Resol. for Concil. Colonies 28 An Empire is the aggregate of many States, under one common head. 1776 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall I. iii. 60 The great chain of communication, from the north-west to the south-east point of the empire, was drawn out to the length of four thousand and eighty Roman miles. 1809 J. G. Jackson Acct. Empire of Marocco vii. 112 The houses at Mogodor are built as in other towns of the empire. 1852 Ld. Tennyson Ode Wellington i. 2 Bury the Great Duke with an empire's lamentation. 1883 Helena (Montana) Independent 2 Aug. 4/1 The astonishing growth of London is accounted for by its being the center of..an empire which ramificates all over the world. 1917 Crisis May 44/1 King of Wallou, Goudar and Bekember which are subsidiary states in the Abyssinian empire. 1980 Time 23 June 20/1 The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is not just a country, but an empire—the largest and probably the last, in history. 2005 Gay Times Dec. 80/2 During the long rule of the Ottoman Turks..in order to wield power in such a huge empire of differing faiths and nationalities, the influence of imams and priests was kept firmly under control. b. With the (and in later use usually with capital initial), used to refer to certain specific empires. (a) = Holy Roman Empire n. Now historical. ΘΚΠ society > authority > rule or government > territorial jurisdiction or areas subject to > [noun] > aggregate of sovereign states under one rule > the Holy Roman or German Empire RomeOE empirec1485 German Empire1550 Roman Empire1583 Sacred Empire1617 Holy Roman Empire1698 c1485 ( G. Hay Bk. Law of Armys (2005) 199 It may be sustenyt yat the king of ffraunce..is jn nathing subiect to the empire. ?1510 T. More tr. G. F. Pico della Mirandola Lyfe I. Picus sig. a.i^v Federik the thryd of y^t name rulinge the empire. 1604 R. Dallington View of Fraunce sig. B^v So doe Lorraine also and Sauoy hold of the Empire. 1678 N. Wanley Wonders Little World v. i. §100. 468/2 Rodolphus the second..was forced to..content himself with..the Empire. 1720 D. Defoe Mem. Cavalier 37 The General Diet of the empire. 1797 Edinb. Mag. Feb. 148/2 The principle..laid down so distinctly as the basis of the peace to be made for the Empire. 1855 J. L. Motley Rise Dutch Republic (1858) I. ii. 146 With the Archduke Maximilian, all the imperial electors, and a concourse of the principal nobles of the empire. 1892 E. S. Beesly Queen Elizabeth iii. 22 Francis I. had intrigued with the Protestant princes of the Empire, and Charles had been obliged to humour them. 1931 E. D. Salmon Imperial Spain 107 Spanish viceroys in Naples and Sicily had permanent galley squadrons to defend the Italian shores of the Empire. 2006 R. J. W. Evans Austria, Hungary & Habsburgs iv. 56 Intellectual and artistic life accommodated themselves to the authority of increasingly well-ordered states within and besides the Empire. (b) The British Empire; esp. the British possessions, dominions, and dependencies, as opposed to Great Britain itself. Now historical.Since the Statute of Westminster (1931), the usual term has been Commonwealth (commonwealth n. 6).On the history of the British Empire see note at British Empire n. 3a. ΘΚΠ society > authority > rule or government > territorial jurisdiction or areas subject to > [noun] > aggregate of sovereign states under one rule > Commonwealth or former British Empire British Empire1701 empire1769 commonwealth1917 1769 in Amer. Gaz. (1770) 392 All parts of the empire have been alarmed with..apprehensions of danger to his Majesty's government in North America. 1776 A. Smith Inq. Wealth of Nations II. v. iii. 586 Countries which contribute neither revenue nor military force towards the support of the empire . View more context for this quotation 1847 in J. C. Byrne Twelve Years Wanderings Brit. Colonies (1848) II. iii. 86 This gentleman asked whether the colony was to remain the sink-hole of the empire. 1862 Englishwoman's Domest. Mag. Jan. 136 ‘The Hope of the Empire’—the Prince of Wales. 1900 Daily News 25 Oct. 4/4 Was it too much to say that in this last twelve months the Empire had been born anew? 1917 R. Muir Char. Brit. Empire 13 The British Navy has made the growth of the Empire possible. 1934 ‘G. Orwell’ Burmese Days ii. 37 No natives in this Club! It's by constantly giving way over small things like that that we've ruined the Empire. 2010 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 15 July 6/2 His conservatism was resentful, about the end of the empire, the end of naval glory, the end of any glory. (c) The aggregate of territories under the control of Napoleon Bonaparte as Emperor of the French, 1804–15; the period of this. Now historical.In later historical use sometimes referred to as First Empire, as distinct from sense A. 2b(d). ΚΠ 1804 Cobbett's Weekly Polit. Reg. May 749 I assent to it, persuaded that if the empire is the price of the virtues of the great man who is called to the imperial dignity, the succession to it by the family guarantees to France ages of glory and of repose. 1830 W. Hazlitt Life Napoleon Buonaparte III. xxxiv. 114 If the reign of terror excited their fears and horror, the establishment of the Empire under Buonaparte seemed an even greater affront. 1872 Young Englishwoman Dec. 645/1 The fourreau dress, reminding one of modes of the First Empire. 1904 R. M. Johnston Napoleon viii. 111 In 1805 began the first of the three great cycles of the wars of the empire. 1992 E. Dubois in C. Blank Lang. & Civilization I. 627 The French Revolution..exported some new vocabulary to England, as did the First Empire. 2007 R. Pawly Napoleon's Polish Lancers of Imperial Guard 24 With the incorporation of Holland into the Empire, Napoleon transformed former Guard units of the King of Holland into a second lancer regiment. (d) The aggregate of territories under the control of Napoleon III as Emperor of the French, 1852–70; the period of this. Frequently as Second Empire; cf. sense A. 2b(c). Now historical. ΚΠ 1853 C. Gilliess tr. Vicomte de la Guéronnière Napoleon the Third 129 The Empire is accepted as a glorious inheritance and as a great duty by Louis Napoleon. 1863 A. W. Kinglake Invasion of Crimea II. iii. 67 He [sc. Napoleon III] was very willing to try to earn for the restored Empire that kind of station and title which the newest of dynasties may acquire by signal achievements in war. 1873 Young Englishwoman Feb. 77/1 The multifarious skirts and retroussis of the Second Empire régime. 1904 M. Beerbohm Around Theatres (1924) II. 60 My imagination roved back to lose itself in the golden haze of the Second Empire. 2001 J. R. Lehning To Be Citizen 22 In November 1873, after the fall of the Empire and the tentative establishment of the Republic, he [sc. Jules Grévy] once again rejected the notion of a plebiscite. †3. A country that is not subject to any foreign authority; an independent nation. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ society > authority > rule or government > territorial jurisdiction or areas subject to > [noun] > territory governed by a ruler or state > independent or autonomous empire1532 independency1817 1532–3 Act 24 Hen. VIII c. 12 This realme of England is an Impire. 1698 S. Johnson Confut. of Ballancing Let. 17 There was never such a scorn put upon the English Nation, which is a free independent Empire. 1765 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. I. 242 The legislature..uses..empire..to assert that our king is..sovereign and independent within these his dominions. 4. Usually with distinguishing word: a particular section or part of society perceived as very large or powerful; spec. a group of businesses or other commercial enterprises owned or controlled by one person or group of people. Cf. business empire n. at business n. Compounds 5. ΚΠ 1837 Globe (Washington, D.C.) 13 Oct. Even with our limited essays towards a bankrupt system, we have scaled the outworks of the banking empire; we have laid hold of bankers, but not of banks. 1845 York Herald 2 Aug. 7/2 Mr. Hudson's railway empire.—The following lines are under Mr. Hudson's direct management and influence. 1866 Temple Bar Jan. 212 The Act of Emancipation..is generally referred to by the planters as the date of the decline of their sugar empire. 1930 X marks Spot 40/1 Capone had left the management of his empire largely in the hands of Frank Nitti, known as the ‘enforcer’. 1967 J. Wain Smaller Sky 51 He had..gained control of a number of local newspapers; built up an impressive medium-sized empire. 1990 W. M. Brasch Forerunners of Revol. 65 He [sc. William Randolph Hearst] controlled the largest media empire in America. 2008 Independent 20 Mar. 16/1 In London, his empire spans five fine-dining restaurants,..three gastro-pubs and a brasserie. II. Senses relating to rule or government. 5. a. Supreme and extensive dominion or sovereignty; esp. that exercised by an emperor, or by a sovereign state over its subject territories.In later use frequently: the system or culture that characterizes an empire. ΘΚΠ society > authority > power > [noun] > political or national power > extensive empirec1390 society > authority > rule or government > sole rule > [noun] > rule of emperor empirec1390 imperialty1602 c1390 in C. Brown Relig. Lyrics 14th Cent. (1924) 141 Þei þou haue kyngdam [MS kyngdan] and Empyre. c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness (1920) l. 1332 For alle his empire so hiȝe, in erþe is he [sc. Nabugodenozar] grauen. 1513 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid vi. xv. 14 To rewle the pepill vndir thyne impyre. 1535 Bible (Coverdale) 2 Chron. xxxvi. 20 They became his seruauntes..tyll the Persians had the empyre. 1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie i. xxiii. 37 Your Maiestie..haue shewed your selfe..vertuous and worthy of Empire. 1596 J. Dalrymple tr. J. Leslie Hist. Scotl. (1888) I. 3 Vnder the Impire of Ingland. 1681 H. Neville Plato Redivivus Pref. Many Treatises..alledged..That Empire was founded in Property. 1715 A. Pope Temple of Fame 31 And swam to Empire thro' the purple Flood. 1799 Amer. Museum 1798 42/1 A directory..will forever aim at an undue empire over other nations. 1821 Ld. Byron Sardanapalus i. i. 5 Thirteen hundred years Of empire ending like a shepherd's tale. 1899 Open Court July 427 Help uphold empire, law, and peace. 1962 S. Wynter Hills of Hebron xv. 189 And the piece of paper with the marks of the chiefs and the red seal was the tangible ratification of their dream of empire. 1990 Jazz FM No. 1. 36/3 The days of Empire are recalled in the grand surroundings of the Queen's Hotel. 2012 Independent 27 Jan. (Arts & Bks. section) 22/4 He will also probe further the notions of empire, decolonisation and nation. b. In extended use. Supreme command; complete or paramount influence, absolute sway; dominance, control. ΘΚΠ society > authority > [noun] > absolute authority empery1529 wilful empire1533 empire1579 dictatorship1580 imperiousness1630 incorrigibilitya1631 tyranny1651 despotism1797 c1400 (?c1380) Pearl l. 454 My Lady..haldeȝ þe empyre ouer vus ful hyȝe. a1500 (?c1450) Merlin (1899) vi. 105 Byfore that I be sacred and receyved the honoure of the empere. 1579 W. Fulke Confut. Treat. N. Sander in D. Heskins Ouerthrowne 628 What Empyre hath Master Sander in Grammer. a1616 W. Shakespeare All's Well that ends Well (1623) i. i. 60 Thy blood and vertue Contend for Empire in thee. View more context for this quotation 1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost i. 114 To..deifie his power Who from the terrour of this Arm so late Doubted his Empire . View more context for this quotation 1742 D. Hume Ess. Moral & Polit. II. ix. 157 The Empire of Philosophy extends over a few. 1838 E. Bulwer-Lytton Alice I. iii. viii. 310 You know the strange empire you have obtained over me. 1883 R. L. Stevenson Treasure Island iii. xiv. 113 Silence had re-established its empire. 1925 A. Bennett Clayhanger Family ii. xii. 236 He saw the meek, stupid, and superstitious faces,..all for the moment under the empire of one horrible idea. 1995 V. J. Cheng Joyce, Race, & Empire ii. 58 For the young Stephen Dedalus, the various and constraining structures of authority and institutional power are imperial in that they have empire over him, they deny him personal autonomy and personal home rule. 6. The reign of an emperor; the office or position of emperor; = emperorship n. ΘΚΠ society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > sovereign ruler or monarch > emperor > [noun] > position or dignity of emperyc1325 empirea1450 emperorship1574 imperiousness1574 empiredoma1626 imperialness1677 Kaisership1855 Kaiserdom1871 Kaiserate1881 a1450 (?c1400) Three Kings Cologne (Royal) (1886) 21 Octauianus..in þe ȝeer of his Empire .xlij. c1520 M. Nisbet New Test. in Scots (1901) I. Luke iii. 1 In the xv yere of the impire of Tiberie Cesare. 1606 G. W. tr. Epit. Liues Emperors in tr. Justinus Hist. sig. Kk 3^v He died..in the fiftene year of his empire. 1687 Bp. G. Burnet tr. Lactantius Relation Death Primitive Persecutors 96 Diocletian..had studied to preserve the Common-wealth in a good State during his Empire. 1750 T. Carte Gen. Hist. Eng. II. vii. 166 Conrad archbishop of Cologne..had been very serviceable to him [sc. Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall] in his election to the empire. 1793 Beawes's Civil Hist. Spain & Portugal II. x. 76 The famous Division of the Metropolitans of Spain, made during the Empire of Constantine the Great. 1845 J. Lingard Hist. & Antiq. Anglo-Saxon Church (ed. 3) I. i. 6 The elevation of Constantine to the empire. 1863 H. H. Milman Hist. Jews (ed. 3) III. xxx. 452 The author asserts himself to have been born during the Empire of Julius Cæsar. 1888 Eng. Hist. Rev. 3 35 The father of Valentine stood in much the same situation as afterwards the Great Napoleon, in the first years of his empire. 1924 K. Aiyangar Hist. Nayaks of Madura vii. 100 Venkaṭapati succeeded to the empire and almost the first act of his reign was the suppression of a rebellion in Madura. 1942 Speculum 17 271 The twenty-four years of his empire are thus computed..from the year in which he received the title of Augustus. 2011 Woman's Era (Nexis) 10 Oct. Kundan jewellery..was very much in vogue in the state of Rajasthan during the empire of the Rajputs. 7. The system of government in command of an empire (sense A. 2). ΘΚΠ society > authority > rule or government > a or the system of government > monarchical government > [noun] > imperial government imperialism1684 empire1806 Caesarism1857 Kaiserism1863 1806 Cobbett's Weekly Polit. Reg. 16 Aug. 234 Lord Grenville has..assured us, that this [French nation] under Empire is in a most flourishing state. 1834 O. P. Q. in Spectator 22 Nov. 1112/2 An old bankrupt employé of the Empire. 1850 C. Merivale (title) A history of the Romans under the Empire. 1902 J. H. Rose Life Napoleon I I. xx. 470 At Metz, the troops and populace fretted against the Empire and its pretentious pomp. 1944 Internat. Affairs 20 1 He was a great public servant of the Empire, outstanding in his long devoted service in India. 2007 H. Gay Hist. of Imperial College 221 Frederick John Dealtry Lugard (1858–1945) was a soldier and administrator of empire. III. Senses deriving from sense A. 2b(c). 8. Any of various styles of furniture that imitate those prevalent during the period of the first French empire (1804–15; see sense A. 2b(c)). Cf. sense B. 1b. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > fashionableness > [adjective] > specific fashions pompadour1756 regency1811 Lavallière1873 greenery-yallery1881 empire1887 Régence1891 sporty1895 Gibson1901 Beatle1963 mod1964 1887 Decorator & Furnisher 11 108/3 M. DeBerard..will present the characteristic features of the leading styles, such as the Empire, Louis XIV., XV., XVI., Queen Anne, etc. 1889 R. Brook Elem. Style Furnit. 29 As in all other French styles, ‘Empire’ was closely imitated in this country. 1912 Internat. Studio Jan. 232/1 Baroque, rococo, empire and Biedermeier are represented in some choice rooms executed by the architect Lessing and Mr. Weber. 2002 Old House Interiors Apr. 38/2 Some pieces will seem exceptionally heavy; others incorporate turnings and curves unlike what we commonly associate with Empire. B. adj. 1. a. Fashion. Of a woman's garment, or a style of garment: characteristic of the first French empire (1804–15; see sense A. 2b(c)); resembling that which was popular during this period; esp. having a waistline that is just below the bust, and often a skirt that is long, loose, and straight; (of a waistline) positioned just below the bust; cf. empire dress n., empire line n. and adj., empire-waisted adj. at Compounds 2. ΘΚΠ the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > [adjective] > other smalleOE lightc1230 round1402 side-necked1430 wanton1489 Spanish1530 tucked1530 lustya1555 civil1582 open-breasted1598 full1601 everlasting1607 sheeten1611 nothinga1616 burly1651 pin-up1677 slouching1691 double-breasted1701 negligée1718 translated1727 uniform1746 undress1777 single-breasted1796 unworn1798 mamalone1799 costumic1801 safeguard1822 Tom and Jerry1830 lightweight1837 fancy dress1844 wrap-1845 hen-skin1846 Mary Stuart1846 well-cut1849 mousquetaire1851 empire1852 costumary1853 solid1859 spring weight1869 Henri II1870 western1881 hard-boiled1882 man-of-war1883 Henley1886 demi-season1890 Gretchen1890 toreador1892 crossover1893 French cut1896 drifty1897 boxy1898 Buster Brown1902 Romney1903 modistic1907 Peter Pan1908 classic1909 Fauntleroy1911 baby doll1912 flared1928 flare1929 tuck-in1929 unpressed1932 Edwardian1934 swingy1937 topless1937 wraparound1937 dressed-down1939 cover-up1942 Sun Yat-sen1942 utility1942 non-utility1948 sudsable1951 off-the-shoulder1953 peasant1953 flareless1954 A-line1955 matador1955 stretch1956 wash-and-wear1959 layered1962 Tom Jones1964 Carnaby Street1965 Action Man1966 Mao-style1967 wear-dated1968 thermal1970 bondage1980 swaggery1980 hoochie1990 mitumba1990 kinderwhore1994 1852 Ladies' Compan. May 278/1 It [sc. the style of dress] approaches to the Empire style, which, it is said, is creeping in, in various details of the toilette, but only in the best details. 1870 O. Logan Before Footlights 292 How do you manage to pay $60 for your new but ugly little Empire bonnet? 1901 Daily Chron. 29 June 8/3 One girl was a remarkable vision in a creamy white cloth Empire coat. 1956 Life 5 Mar. 69 (heading) Empire silhouette breaks out simultaneously in U.S. and Paris. 2001 Mode Aug. 28/2 In the symbolic language of film costumes, an empire waist means ‘aristocratic virgin’. b. Of furniture, porcelain, etc.: characteristic of the first French empire (1804–15; see sense A. 2b(c)); made in a style that was popular during this period. ΚΠ 1868 G. A. Sala Notes & Sketches Paris Exhib. xxiii. 333 There is nothing more tasteless, perhaps,..as that ‘Empire’ style to which I have more than once made allusion. 1869 C. Schreiber Jrnl. (1911) I. 29 Green cup and saucer, imitating ‘Empire’ Sèvres. 1889 R. Brook Elem. Style Furnit. 29 It is impossible to have a better authority on ‘Empire’ Furniture, than the book of designs published in Paris, by the architects, Percier and Fontaine, in 1809. 1904 H. E. Binstead Furnit. Styles x. 116 It is never difficult to determine what is Empire. 1951 N. Mitford Blessing i. xii. 122 In those days there was an Empire dressing-table with a marble top, very ugly. 1985 N.Y. Mag. 11 Mar. 64/3 The Dream, that florid comic opera in which a Gauguinesque woman reclines on a red velvet Empire sofa in the midst of a throbbing jungle. 2. Of wines or spirits: produced in the dominions of the British Empire (later the Commonwealth), and imported into Great Britain. Now historical. ΚΠ 1919 Times 26 Apr. I was amazed at the number of letters I received from members of the public, asking where and how they could obtain supplies of Empire wines. 1937 W. H. Auden in W. H. Auden & L. MacNeice Lett. from Iceland v. 57 Someone may think that Empire wines are nice. 1954 P. Frankau Wreath for Enemy iii. v. 210 You would look like an advertisement for Empire Burgundy. 1965 R. Jeffries Dead against Lawyers ix. 94 I can offer you Empire sherry or a beer? 2005 K. Farrer To feed Nation xii. 119 Exports were promoted by..the British Government's preferential duty on all Empire wines the next year [sc. 1925]. Phrases P1. Empire of the Rising Sun n. (a name given to) Japan. Now somewhat archaic. [Compare earlier land (also country, island, kingdom, etc.) of the rising sun at rising sun n. Phrases and rising sun n. 4a. Compare Japanese Dai Nippon Teikoku , lit. ‘Great Empire of Japan’ or ‘Empire of Great Japan’ (1889; official name of the country 1890–1945), based on the earlier name Nippon-koku , lit. ‘land of the origin of the sun’ (see Nippon n.).] ΚΠ 1860 N.Y. Times 5 May 1/4 Even in this locality of excitements, the population is on tiptoe of expectation, in view of the coming delegation from the Empire of the Rising Sun. 1890 Morning Post 26 July 5/2 The writer..devotes some interesting pages to an account of a visit to the Japanese inland watering-place Kusatsu, renowned throughout the Empire of the Rising Sun for the medicinal virtues of its hot springs. 1936 Amer. Sociol. Rev. 1 455 Social thought in the broadest sense has never been lacking in the Empire of the Rising Sun. 1991 V. Bugliosi Sea will Tell ii. 28 A five-inch-gun battery on the island chased off the would-be raider. After that, the Empire of the Rising Sun expressed no interest in the isolated atoll. 2011 C. Shirley December 1941 (2013) i. 17 The accepted wisdom was that..if things turned bad for Hitler on the Russian front, the Empire of the Rising Sun would shrink from any military against the British or the Free French in the Far East. P2. empire of the sun n. (a) poetic the domain of the sun; (b) (a name given to) an empire, country, or other region associated with the sun or a sun god; spec. (in later use) Japan (now somewhat archaic). [With reference to South America apparently reflecting the Incas' view of themselves as descendants of the sun god (compare Spanish hijos del sol , lit. ‘children of the sun’ (mid 16th cent.)). With reference to Japan compare Empire of the Rising Sun n. at Phrases 1.] ΚΠ 1685 A. Behn Pindarick Poem on Happy Coronation 5 With life-giving Rule the God maintains The Glorious Empire of the Sun. 1751 tr. I. H. de La Marche-Courmant Lett. of Aza, Peruvian v. 12 The first ships expected on the coast you inhabit, are from the empire of the Sun [Fr. la terre du Soleil]. 1826 Lancet 23 Sept. 830/2 The Chinese allow no books to be brought within the great empire of the sun. 1840 W. B. Tappan Poet's Tribute 308 Unhappy India!—empire of the sun!—Rich in the gifts of nature, yet undone. 1859 New Monthly Mag. 115 4 Nip-pun, or Nip-pon,..‘Sun-source country’, the Empire of the Sun, has been justly compared by Kæmpfer to Great Britain and Ireland. 1883 World's Cycl. Sci. III. 88/1 To complete this sketch of the Empire of the Sun, we must add..certain bodies which, without departing from his kingdom, are always journeying. 1890 Harper's New Monthly Mag. 1 Dec. 864 The ruling Inca sent them teachers, not only to instruct them in the religion and laws of the Empire of the Sun. 1913 Pennsylvania Mag. Hist. & Biogr. 37 262 These broad waters..were the pathway which Europe traversed in her search for a passage to Cathay; here was once the entrance to the realms of gold, to the gleaming empire of the sun. 1937 E. Caldwell You have seen their Faces (1995) i. 1 It is the Southern Extremity of America, the Empire of the Sun, the Cotton States... It is The South. 1985 Guardian 3 Jan. 13/5 (headline) A shadow drifts over the empire of the sun. Robert Whymant reports from Tokyo. 2010 G. E. Salecker Blossoming Silk against Rising Sun iii. 22 In 1905, after Japan's defeat of Russia.., the Empire of the Sun took control of all of Korea and a part of Manchuria that had earlier been gobbled up by the Russians. Compounds C1. a. General attributive, esp. in uses corresponding to imperial adj. 1. ΚΠ 1840 Bengal Catholic Expositor 7 Nov. 278/2 I see he cries, amid the waste of night, The world's wide tomb, Death's empire throne is here. 1847 Christian Wreath 167 O'er the towering dome of the empire-palace. 1864 E. B. Pusey Daniel ii. 66 The great empire-plan of Alexander. 1902 C. E. Benton As seen from Ranks xxvi. 289 The Southern leaders now began to realize that their empire ambition was like the prisoner in the fabled ‘Iron Chamber’. 1946 Jrnl. Land & Public Utility Econ. 22 264/2 Turnor's effort to make the settlement schemes an Empire Plan came to naught since individual nationalism was stronger. 1982 T. Johnson in A. Giddens & G. Mackenzie Social Class & Div. of Labour 198 The British professions ‘universalised’ their qualifications in the cause of empire expansion. 2002 L. H. Butler Brit. & Empire v. 139 Writing to the Lord President of the Committee, the ‘die-hard’ empire enthusiast Lord Salisbury, Macmillan said [etc.]. b. Objective. Cf. empire builder n., empire building n. empire-maker n. ΚΠ 1877 Funny Folks 10 Nov. Who should sceptres wield But those Empire-makers. 1903 Westm. Gaz. 1 June 12/3 Gazing out across the silent waters at the granite hills that have seen the passage of how many empire-makers. 2004 B. Singer & J. Langdon Cultured Force Introd. 9 But though he became an enlightened despot of the Napoleonic stamp.., he was actually no great fan of the diminutive empire-maker in Europe. empire-making n. and adj. ΚΠ 1831 Morning Post 13 June He is heartily tired of Constitution-making, Empire-making, Loan-making, and Queen-making. 1894 Daily News 29 Jan. 5/2 Mr. Rhodes is an Empire-making man. 1938 M. J. Bonn Crumbling of Empire ii. 101 A decolonization movement is sweeping over the continents. An age of empire-breaking is following an age of empire-making. 1995 M. J. Schueller in L. Quinby Geneal. & Lit. iv. 49 When Melville published Typee in 1844, U.S. rhetoric on empire making was well established. 2007 R. Martin Empire of Indifference 2 The present terror war joins the complex legacy of empire-making race war that Hilferding identifies. C2. empire biscuit n. chiefly Scottish a type of sandwich biscuit consisting of two round pieces of shortcake with a jam filling, topped with icing and (typically) a glacé cherry.In quot. 1886 it is unclear what type of biscuit is being described.Empire biscuit is said to have replaced its synonym German biscuit as the usual name of this type of biscuit around the time of the First World War (1914–18) in order to avoid the perceived negative connotations of the latter. ΚΠ 1886 Leeds Mercury 27 Feb. (advt.) Wm. Low and Company, 6, Briggate, Leeds, are Retailing Dundee-made Biscuits... The ‘Empire’ Biscuit (registered) is the Talk of the Country. 1928 Auckland Star 1 Sept. 4/2 Those pleasant little combinations of shortbread, icing sugar, raspberry jam and crystallised cherries called in the good old pre-war days ‘German’, now Teutophobically changed to ‘Empire’, biscuits. 1985 M. Munro Patter 76 Who's wheeched the last empire biscuit? 2000 Edinb. Evening News 5 Dec. 17 Empire biscuits, or known to me in those pre-PC days as German biscuits... I loved to run my razor-sharp baby teeth through the icing—after munching the glace cherry on top. Empire City n. (also with lower-case initials) chiefly U.S. (a nickname for) the city of New York; cf. Empire State n.In later use Big Apple is more common; see Big Apple n. 4. ΚΠ 1833 United States' Tel. 18 Apr. If any sister craft can out jump the Walter—whether in the port of the empire city, or in any of the harbors along shore,..and parts adjacent, it would be well to have it known. 1857 W. Chandless Visit Salt Lake II. v. 222 The mint julep, that in the Crescent City you may enjoy for ten cents, costs you twelve and half in the Empire city. 1944 Newsweek 24 July 82/3 The Empire City meeting is typical of wartime racing. 2009 S. Schneider Iced iv. 169/1 Jack Pollakowitz was also eyeballed as a co-conspirator and Pincus Brecher was fingered for pushing the smeck in the Big Apple. Both were indicted in the Empire City a few weeks later. empire cloth n. cloth treated with an insulating liquid (esp. varnish), and used as an electrical insulator; a sheet or piece of this. ΚΠ 1898 Physical Rev. 7 207 Empire Cloth and Paper.—This is a trade name applied to cloth or paper treated with a liquid insulating medium, such as oil, which dries in and between the fibers and forms a continuous insulating sheet. 1913 A. P. Fleming & R. Johnson Insulation & Design of Electr. Windings iii. 107 Except in the case of Empire cloth no appreciable deterioration in the insulation was noted. 1945 Electronic Engin. 17 498 Among the insulating materials affected are..all cellulose products such as paper, varnished fabric, empire cloth and insulating tape. 1989 A. C. Davies Sci. & Pract. Welding (ed. 9) I. iv. 169 Amongst the best and most familiar insulators are glass, porcelain, rubber, shellac, mica, oiled silk, empire cloths, oils, resins, bitumen, paper, etc. Empire Day n. now historical a day dedicated to the celebration of the British Empire, esp. commemorating assistance given to Britain by its colonies during the Boer War (1899–1902); now replaced by Commonwealth Day (see commonwealth n. 6).First observed in Canada in 1899, where it was celebrated on the last school day before May 24, being the birthday of Queen Victoria. ΚΠ 1898 Dominion Educ. Assoc. Minutes of Proc. 5 Aug. in Ann. Rep. Superintendent Educ. on Public Schools Nova Scotia (1899) App. E. 200 Resolved: That this Association recommends that the school day immediately preceding May 24th, be set apart as ‘Empire Day’. 1899 Mercury 14 Jan. 3/4 There is a good deal to be said for the suggestion, attributed to the Canadian Government, that a certain fixed date in every year should be observed as a gala day in all parts of the Empire. The institution of an annual ‘Empire Day’, to be celebrated wherever the British flag flies,..would perpetuate that striking object-lesson in Imperial unity which was afforded by the world-wide rejoicings of the Diamond Jubilee Day. 1922 G. K. Chesterton Ballad St. Barbara 74 For the spots are all red and the rest is all grey, And that is the meaning of Empire Day. 1947 Williamstown (Austral.) Chron. 23 May 1/5 State schools of the district fittingly celebrated Empire Day on Friday last, prior to breaking up for a week's vacation. 2001 M. H. Moss Manliness & Militarism iii. 42 Empire Day was the [Canadian] schoolchild's opportunity to bask in the imperial sun and to celebrate the greatness of Britain. empire dress n. Fashion a dress having a waistline just below the bust, and a skirt that is long, loose, and straight; cf. sense B. 1a. ΚΠ 1852 Illustr. London News 30 Oct. 348/2 From behind, the skirt seemed rather narrow and bare, somewhat reminding one of the Empire dresses. 1866 Englishwoman's Domest. Mag. May 158/2 Paper models,..of the costumes illustrated in this plate, at the following prices:—Empire dress complete, 5s. 6d.; walking jacket, 3s. 6d.; [etc.]. 1887 Academy 18 June 440/1 She wore, of course, an Empire dress. 1967 E. Short Embroidery & Fabric Collage ii. 41 The same design would have been unthinkable on say an Empire dress of seventy years earlier. 2004 J. Colgan Do you remember First Time? xvi. 305 Tash's little niece,..restored to bridesmaiding duties in the lovely empire dress. Empire Games n. now historical (a) a sporting contest in which teams representing the United Kingdom and certain dominions of the British Empire competed as part of the Festival of Empire celebrations held at the Crystal Palace, London, in 1911; (b) = British Empire Games n. at British Empire n. Compounds. ΚΠ 1911 Hutchinson (Kansas) News 9 June 2/5 Athletes selected by the Canadian Amateur Athletic Union to represent the Dominion in the Festival of Empire games at London.] 1912 Times of India 22 May 7 Some suggestions..were made at the end of the Empire Games at the Crystal Palace last year. 1929 Times 2 Dec. 7/1 The subject of the Empire Games to be held in Canada next year was fully discussed. 2012 S. J. Potter Broadcasting Empire v. 160 Every four years, the Empire Games offered opportunities for a more explicit harnessing of sport to the cause of empire and Commonwealth unity. Empire-grown adj. now historical grown in the British Empire; spec. grown in a British dominion or dependency, and imported into Great Britain. ΚΠ 1901 Empire Rev. 1 370 A concession in support of Empire-grown wine. 1926 M. Lowry Let. 29 Apr. in Sursum Corda! (1995) I. 17 We sallied forth.., armed with our pipes and plenty of navy cut, or in my case Empire grown shag. 2001 Jrnl. Econ. Hist. 61 157 A serious campaign was launched to persuade consumers to buy Empire-grown teas. empire line n. and adj. Fashion (a) n. a cut or shape that is characteristic of an empire dress, with a waistline just below the bust, and usually a skirt that is long, loose, and straight; (also in early use) a horizontal line running just below the bust, where the bodice joins the lower part of a garment; (b) adj. (esp. of a dress) having an empire line. ΚΠ 1911 Good Housek. Mag. Oct. 500 The Empire line and the large patch side-pockets add new touches. 1917 E. Burbank Woman as Decoration xxvii. 312 A dinner-dress of black Chantilly lace, over white chiffon (Empire lines). 1952 N.Y. Times 16 Jan. 4/6 The Empire-line dress with silk taffeta bodice. 1958 Vogue Apr. 18 (advt.) Choose this Empire-line charmer in swirling full length. 1999 T. Iakovou & J. Iakovou There lies Hidden Scorpion 104 Dressed for church in a flowing challis dress with an empire line. 2010 Wedding Ideas Nov. 146/1 ‘I was adamant that I didn't want anything lacy or heavily beaded,’ says Kelly... Her vintage-style empire line gown was from Benjamin Roberts. Empire Marketing Board n. now historical a body set up to promote the development of the market in Great Britain for the produce of its dominions and dependencies.Abolished in 1933. ΚΠ 1926 Financial Times 23 Apr. No meeting of the Empire Marketing Board had yet been held. 1927 Daily Tel. 5 Mar. 8/7 The Empire Marketing Board for the development of the market for Dominion produce in Great Britain. 1933 Times 28 July 10/2 Sir,—May I use your columns to make a strong plea that the Empire Marketing Board should be continued as the national business asset that it is? 2000 J. Caughie Television Drama i. 27 On his return to Britain, he went to see Stephen Tailents, the civil servant in charge of the recently established Empire Marketing Board. † empire-race n. Obsolete rare a race in command of an empire; a supremely powerful race. ΚΠ a1860 W. B. Weed Sermons (1861) 242 The most perfect in faculties of all the races of creatures with which the Almighty has stocked this planet—the empire race of earth's inhabitants. 1878 J. Morley Condorcet 52 Its desire to be an empire-race. Empire State n. chiefly U.S. (a nickname for) the state of New York; also applied to other states with regional modifier, esp. to the state of Georgia (as Empire State of the South). ΚΠ 1820 B. Silliman Remarks Tour Hartford & Quebec 65 Albany contains from ten to twelve thousand inhabitants, and is the second city in the State (we might almost say empire,) of New-York.] 1830 Poulson's Amer. Daily Advertiser (Philadelphia) 9 Nov. 2/5 Mr. Richards, the Mayor of Philadelphia, then rose and said..‘I present the following sentiment: “New York—The Empire State, and Emporium City”’. 1860 Leisure Hour 29 Nov. 765/2 Illinois, the ‘Empire State’ of the mighty West. 1903 N.Y. Evening Post The saloon men of Tennessee have not, perhaps, the literary finish..of their brethren in the Empire State. 2008 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 9 Oct. 47/2 We, the empire state of the South, the jewel of the South, the great state of Georgia. 2010 Times-Union (Albany, N.Y.) (Nexis) 19 Jan. 22 I'm a real Albanian, not from Albania but from Albany, the capital city of the Empire State. empire tree n. now rare an empire (esp. a colonial empire) considered as a tree, in growing from a small size, bearing fruit, etc. ΚΠ 1851 Gentleman's Mag. 121 ii. 54 God bless'd the empire-tree which thou didst plant. 1907 N.Z. Parl. Deb. 142 91/1 The Colonel went on to compare New Zealand to a ripe plum ready to be knocked off the Empire tree. 1933 L. Roberts So this is Ottawa vii. 126 The imperial foregathering of 1926 again tapped the Empire tree and drew forth new juices. empire-waisted adj. Fashion (of a person) wearing a garment with a high waistline; (of a garment) having such a waistline; cf. sense B. 1a. ΚΠ 1895 Evening Post (Denver) 23 July 3/2 Miss Sawdy..said she guessed she would speak to her papa about it, anyhow. The empire waisted woman nearly screamed, ‘But indeed you mustn't.’ a1910 ‘O. Henry’ Sixes & Sevens (1916) xiii. 129 High-collared, baggy, empire-waisted, ample-skirted. 1952 N.Y. Times 14 Feb. 31/2 A checked wool spencer jacket and Empire-waisted skirt. 1970 Jet 8 Jan. 42 The bride..wore a white velvet empire-waisted gown sprinkled with pearls. 2003 D. Fulbrook in S. P. Pucci & J. Thompson Jane Austen & Co. ix. 208 The cover..pictures a dark-haired empire-waisted heroine who might easily be mistaken for Austen. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2014; most recently modified version published online June 2022). † empirev. Forms: α. late Middle English–1600s 1800s empire; Scottish pre-1700 empire, pre-1700 empyre. β. Scottish pre-1700 impire, pre-1700 impyire, pre-1700 impyre, pre-1700 inpyre. Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: empire n. Etymology: < empire n. Compare imperate v.With the β. forms compare the γ. forms at empire n. and adj. Obsolete. intransitive. To rule as an emperor; to hold absolute power; (figurative) to prevail, hold sway. Frequently with above, of, over, etc.In quot. c1600: (perhaps) to soar. ΘΚΠ society > authority > rule or government > sole rule > rule as monarch [verb (intransitive)] > as emperor empirea1500 a1500 Disciplina Clericalis in Western Reserve Univ. Bull. (1919) 22 70 (MED) His yong sone, whan he Empired in the Empire. 1559–60 Cott. Lib. Cal. B. ix Seeing ambition has sa impyrit ower their reason. 1564 Forme of Prayers Eng. Chuch Geneua i. 28 Strangers againe impire aboue vs. 1594 R. Carew tr. T. Tasso Godfrey of Bulloigne iv. 142 At pleasure now on starres empyreth he. c1598 King James VI & I Basilicon Doron (1944) I. ii. 152 Youre uraith empyring ouer youre passion. c1600 A. Montgomerie Poems (2000) I. 115 Thy Sprit so spurris thee..aboue the Planetis to impyre. 1637 T. Heywood tr. Lucian in Pleasant Dialogues & Dramma's xiii. 123 I empir'd o're All Caria. 1840 Millennial Harbinger July 318 His mother Mamaea really empired over Rome. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2014; most recently modified version published online December 2020). < n.adj.1340v.a1500
随便看	to lose the sheep for a ha'p'orth of tar to lose the sheep for a ha'porth of tar to lose the thread to lose the will to live to lose to view to lose touch to lose track of to lose weight to lose, to do in one's block to lose, to do one's block to louk in clay to louk in clay etc to louk in clay lead to louk on death to lout a person out of to lout out of to love to love a person as one's own soul to love alife to love as one's own soul to love fere to love one's fere to love one's love with an a to love one's love with an a with a b to love one's love with an a with a etc

empiren.adj.

Phrases

Compounds

† empirev.