empery

English

Etymology

From Middle English emperie, from Old French emperie, from Latin imperium, inperium (“command, control, dominion, sovereignty, a dominion, empire”), from imperare, inperare (“to command, order”), from in (“in, on”) + parare (“to make ready, order”). Doublet of imperium and empire.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛm.pə.ɹɪ/, /ˈɛm.pɹɪ/

Noun

empery (plural emperies)

1. (now rare) An empire; the status or dominion of an emperor. [from 14th c.]
   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene vi:

     Let’s cheere our ſouldiers to incounter him,
     That grieuous image of ingratitude:
     That fiery thirſter after Soueraigntie:
     And burne him in the fury of that flame,
     That none can quench but blood and Empery.

   • 1604, Edward Coke, “To the Reader”, in The Fourth Part of the Reports of Sir Edward Coke, Kt.:

     Secondly, the Largeneſs of his Empery, and the firſt Conquest of Ireland, long before the Reign of K. Hen. the Second.

   • 1661, John Donne, To his Mistress going to Bed:

     My Myne of precious stones: My Emperie, / How blest am I in this discovering thee!

   • 1930, Hart Crane, “Ave Maria”, in The Bridge:

     It is morning there / O where our Indian emperies lie revealed, / Yet lost, all, let this keel one instant yield!

2. (archaic) Absolute power or authority. [from 16th c.]
   • 1833, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Prometheus Bound:

     Because he filched away
     Thine own bright flower, the glory of plastic fire,
     And gifted mortals with it, — such a sin
     It doth behoove he expiate to the gods,
     Learning to accept the empery of Zeus,
     And leave off his old trick of loving man.

Synonyms

• (absolute authority): dominion, sovereignty