premiershipn.
/ˈprɛmɪəʃɪp/, U.S. /priˈmɪrˌʃɪp/, /prəˈmɪrˌʃɪp/ 1.
a. The position or office of premier; (now esp.) the office or position of a Prime Minister or other head of government.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > a or the government > head of government > [noun] > first minister of a ruler or state > office of
premiership1765
1765 Thoughts on Times p. vii How thankful then ought we to be to our most amiable and beneficent Sovereign, for calling to the Premiership a nobleman of such singular merits.
1800 W. Hazlitt in Morning POst 18 Mar. He..taught an inherency of the office in the person of the King, which made the office itself a nullity, and the Premiership, with its accompanying majority, the sole and permanent power of the State.
1806 T. Moore Mem. (1853) I. 187 The King will certainly offer the premiership to Addington.
1873 Spectator 9 Aug. 1001/1 Mr. Gladstone..takes the control of the Exchequer as well as the Premiership.
1893 F. W. L. Adams New Egypt 125 The premiership of Fakhry Pasha was never gazetted.
1921 Amer. Polit. Sci. Rev. 15 33 The elevation of Aristide Briand to the premiership was contemplated by many.
1954 C. R. Attlee As it Happened xviii. 157 My elevation to the Premiership necessarily brought with it a change of residence.
1975 N.Y. Times 12 Sept. 6/1 The Communists appeared eager not to be isolated from power as a result of the recent ouster from the premiership..of Gen. Vasco Gonçalves, whom they had backed.
1993 Weekend Austral. 28–29 Aug. (Review Suppl.) 6/4 In 1904 Irvine passed the 32nd premiership of Victoria to Bent, who held it for almost five years.
b. U.S. The position or office of Secretary of State. Cf. premier n. 4. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > a or the government > government minister > [noun] > U.S. secretary of state > office of
premiership1857
1857 N.Y. Times 1 Jan. 1/2 Mr. Cobb..was mentioned occasionally for the Chair of State, but will be set down for the Treasury Department, unless something should occur to prevent Mr. Cass from accepting the Premiership.
1895 Progress Rev. (La Porte City, Iowa) 1 June After Mr Cleveland's election Judge Gresham was offered the premiership of the cabinet and accepted. He was appointed secretary of state March 4, 1893.
1928 H. Minor Story Democr. Party 69 Madison had cabinet troubles, too. Monroe accepted the premiership in March 1811.
2. The state or condition of being first in rank; the top, prime, or first position, as in a competition; (now chiefly Sport) the highest-ranking division or league in a particular context, esp. the English Football Association Premier League (formed in 1992).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > pre-eminence > [noun]
primacyc1384
principalitya1398
pre-eminencec1460
principalness1530
supremacy1579
firsthood1619
transeminency1660
supremeness1665
primality1667
giantship1847
premiership1850
supremity1882
1850 Times 30 May 5/5 The struggle for the premiership lay between Clincher, Bolingbroke, and Mildew.
1870 R. Anderson Hist. Missions Amer. Board II. xvii. 138 Kinau was succeeded in the premiership by..her half-sister.
1897 Daily News 9 July 6/2 He also took a special prize as a ‘premiership dog’.
1902 Trenton (New Jersey) Times 8 Feb. 9/4 The team of the Knickerbocker Athletic club of New York..will undoubtedly be successful in retaining the premiership.
1920 Sci. Monthly Nov. 414 By 1910, Chicago had shot her arrow and fallen short of the mark..of the premiership among not only America's but the world's cities.
1981 Manch. Guardian Weekly (Nexis) 3 May 24 Only one of the Premiership matches was possible at the weekend, Castleford beating Wakefield Trinity 25-8.
1993 Daily Mail (Nexis) 26 July 49 Premiership newcomers Swindon and Newcastle are also visited before August is out, but West Ham fans will have to be patient.
2003 N. Giller McFootball xv. 104 Eric Cantona came from Leeds to light the fire of the team that won the inaugural Premiership title in 1992-93.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1765