empery

plural emperies

1. archaicAn empire; the status or dominion of an emperor.First known use 14th c.

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

   1661, John Donne, To his Mistress going to Bed

   3 more examples

   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.

   c. 1587–1588 (date written), [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

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

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

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

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

2. archaicAbsolute power or authority.First known use 16th c.

   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.

   1833, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Prometheus Bound

   1 more example

   Or else be no more Sorrow, and Despair Gild its own thorns, and Pain, like Adon, be Even in anguish beautiful; — such is the empery Which Painters hold, and such the heritage This gentle solemn Spirit doth possess, Being a better mirror of his age In all his pity, love, and weariness, Than those who can but copy common things, And leave the Soul unpainted with its mighty questionings.

   a. 1881, Oscar Wilde, 'The Garden of Eros', in Poems

   Synonyms: dominion, sovereignty