empery

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)

(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!
(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