| 释义 |
▪ I. empire, n.|ˈɛmpaɪə(r)|
Forms: 3 anpyre, empyere, 4 empir, (impire, imparre), 4–5 emper(e, 4–6 empyr(e, 4– empire.
[a. F. empire:—L. imperium in same sense; related to imperāre to command, whence imperātor emperor.
Owing partly to historical circumstances, and partly to the sense of the etymological connexion between the two words, empire has always had the specific sense ‘rule or territory of an emperor’ as well as the wider meaning which it derives from its etymology.]
I. Imperial rule or dignity.
1. Supreme and extensive political dominion; esp. that exercised by an ‘emperor’ (in the earlier senses: see emperor 1, 2), or by a sovereign state over its dependencies.
c1325E.E. Allit. P. B. 1332 For alle his empire so hiȝe in erþe is he grauen. a1400Know Thyself in E.E.P. (1862) 132 Þauȝ þou haue kyngdam and empyre. c1400Three Kings Cologne 18 Octauianus..in þe ȝeer of his Empire XLII. 1535Coverdale 2 Chron. xxxvi. 20 They became his seruauntes..tyll the Persians had the empyre. 1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie i. xxiii. (Arb.) 60 Your Maiestie haue shewed yourselfe..vertuous and worthy of Empire. 1681Nevile Plato Rediv. Pref., Many Treatises..alledged.. That Empire was founded in Property. 1711Pope Temp. Fame 347 And swam to empire thro' the purple flood. 1821Byron Sardan. i. i. (1868) 350 Thirteen hundred years Of empire ending like a shepherd's tale. 1845Stocqueler Handbk. Brit. India (1854) 7 From this hour (1757) the establishment of the British empire in India may be dated.
2. transf. and fig. Paramount influence, absolute sway, supreme command or control.
c1325E.E. Allit. P. A. 454 My lady..haldez þe empyre ouer vus ful hyȝe. 1579Fulke Confut. Sanders 628 What Empyre hath Master Sander in Grammer. 1601Shakes. All's Well i. i. 72 Thy blood and vertue Contend for Empire in thee. 1667Milton P.L. i. 114 To deifie his power Who from the terrour of this Arm so late Doubted his Empire. 1752Hume Ess. & Treat. (1777) I. 182 The empire of philosophy extends over a few. 1838Lytton Alice 129 You know the strange empire you have obtained over me. 1886Stevenson Treasure Isl. iii. xiv. 113 Silence had re-established its empire.
3. The dignity or position of an emperor; also, † the reign of an emperor (obs.); = emperorship.
1606G. Woodcocke tr. Hist. Ivstine Kk 3 b, He died..in the fiftene year of his empire. 1844Lingard Anglo-Sax. Ch. (1858) I. i. 6 Elevation of Constantine to the Empire.
4. A government in which the sovereign has the title of emperor.
1834[see employé]. 1850Merivale (title) A History of the Romans under the Empire.
II. That which is subject to imperial rule.
5. a. An extensive territory (esp. an aggregate of many separate states) under the sway of an emperor or supreme ruler; also, an aggregate of subject territories ruled over by a sovereign state.
1297R. Glouc. (1724) 733 All thys were of hys anpyre. c1330R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 6 Adelard of Westsex was kyng of þe Empire. 1393Gower Conf. III. 282 God hath beraft him..his large empire. 1460Lybeaus Disc. 843 A sercle..Of stones and of golde, The best yn that enpyre. 1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. i. i. 34 Let the wide Arch of the raing'd Empire fall. 1735Burke Sp. Conc. Amer. Wks. III. 69 An empire is the aggregate of many states under one common head. 1848Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 348 The position of London, relatively to the other towns of the empire. 1852Tennyson Ode Wellington i. 2 Bury the Great Duke with an empire's lamentation. 1887Whitaker's Almanack 297 The approximate population of the British Empire is now 321,000,000.
b. the Empire: (a) before 1804 (and subsequently in Hist. use) often spec. the ‘Holy Roman’ or ‘Romano-Germanic’ empire.
1678Wanley Wond. Lit. World v. i. §100. 468/2 Rodolphus the second..was forced to..content himself with..the Empire. 1724De Foe Mem. Cavalier (1840) 35 The general diet of the empire.
(b) Great Britain with its dominions, colonies, and dependencies; the British Empire; freq. the overseas dominions, etc., as opposed to Great Britain. Since the Statute of Westminster (1931), Commonwealth has become the more usual term.
1772R. Cumberland Advt. to Fashionable Lover sig. A2v, Wherever..I have made any attempts at novelty, I have found myself obliged..to dive into the lower class of men, or betake myself to the outskirts of the empire. 1776Adam Smith W.N. II. v. iii. 586 Countries which contribute neither revenue nor military force towards the support of the empire. 1847in J. C. Byrne Twelve Years Wand. Brit. Colonies (1848) II. iii. 86 This gentleman asked whether the colony was to remain the sink-hole of the empire. 1862Englishwoman's Dom. Mag. Jan. 136 ‘The Hope of the Empire’—the Prince of Wales. 1900Daily News 25 Oct. 4/4 Was it too much to say that in this last twelve months the Empire had been born anew? 1902Times 18 July 8/2 Their fellow-subjects in other portions of the Empire. 1904Daily Chron. 15 Nov. 6/7 Lord Rosebery, in his capacity of principal guest at a dinner of the Oxford Colonial Club last night, replied to the toast of the ‘Empire’. 1917R. Muir Char. Brit. Empire 13 The British Navy has made the growth of the Empire possible. 1948Times Lit. Suppl. 9 Oct., ‘Empire’, along with its adjective, has gone out of fashion, though it may still be used discreetly for the assemblage of the non-selfgoverning territories and the mother country.
(c) the rule of Napoleon Bonaparte as Emperor of the French, 1804–15, or the period of this.
1810L. Goldsmith Secret Hist. Cabinet Bonaparte (1811) 112 (heading) The Government of France under the consulate and empire of Napoleon Bonaparte. 1830Hazlitt Life Nap. 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. 1845[see consulate 2]. 1866Crowe Hist. France xliii. (title) The Consulate and the Empire. 1902J. H. Rose Life Napoleon I I. xx. 470 At Metz, the troops and populace fretted against the Empire and its pretentious pomp. 1924R. B. Mowat Diplom. Napoleon xiii. 132 Bonaparte had ushered in the Empire by proclaiming his contempt for the law of nations. 1967J. Marshall-Cornwall Napoleon ii. 26 The French field-guns remained unchanged in range and calibre throughout the whole period of the Consulate and Empire.
(d) the rule of Napoleon III as Emperor of the French, 1852–70, or the period of this, usually as Second Empire.
1863A. 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. 1873Young Englishwoman Feb. 77/1 The multifarious skirts and retroussis of the Second Empire régime. 1876C. M. Yonge Womankind xv. 114 Are we not still suffering from the expensive style begun in the Second Empire? 1904Beerbohm Around Theatres (1953) 332 My imagination roved back to lose itself in the golden haze of the Second Empire. 1961M. Howard Franco-Prussian War i. 15 A régime so precarious as that of the Second Empire, bitterly opposed by an active and intelligent minority and resting on public apathy rather than popular consent.
6. transf. and fig. (Cf. realm.)
c1440York Myst. xlvi. 200 Farewele, nowe I passe to þe pereles empire. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 69 Called to be enherytours of the celestiall empyre. 1608Shakes. Per. ii. i. 53 These fishers..from their watery empire recollect All that may men approve or men detect! 1656W. Montagu Accompl. Wom. 124 Love is an Empire only of two Persons. 1709Addison Tatler No. 154 ⁋2 æneas is represented as descending into the Empire of Death. 1772Mackenzie Man World i. i. (1823) 241 Liberal minds will delight in extending the empire of virtue. 1821Shelley Prometh. Unb. i. 15 Scorn and despair—these are mine empire.
7. A country of which the sovereign owes no allegiance to any foreign superior.
1532–3Act 24 Hen. VIII, c. 12 This realme of England is an Impire. 1765Blackstone Comm. I. 242 The legislature..uses..empire..to assert that our king is..sovereign and independent within these his dominions.
III. 8. a. attrib. and Comb., as empire-plan, empire-race, etc.; empire-grown adj.; empire-maker, empire-making ppl. a.; empire-builder, a man who acquires additional territory for his state; also formerly applied loosely to British administrators abroad; transf., one who increases his authority or influence, or who expands unnecessarily the size of his offices, etc., or the number of his subordinates; so empire-building vbl. n. and ppl. a.; Empire City U.S., a name for the City of New York; empire cloth, a cloth or sheet used as an electrical insulator; Empire Day, May 24, the birthday of Queen Victoria, formerly observed as a (school) holiday in the British Empire and instituted as a memorial of the assistance given by the colonies to the mother country in the South African war of 1899–1902 (now Commonwealth Day); Empire State U.S., a name for the State of New York; also applied to other American states.
1894Westm. Gaz. 30 June 6/1 A reference to Mr. Cecil Rhodes's work as empire-builder. 1909Ibid. 10 June 7/1 As if Shakespeare and Burns and Bunyan and Swift and all the rest of that superb gallery were not the greatest of British Empire-builders. 1927V. Woolf in Forum May 709 Her dreams of living in India, married to..some empire builder. 1959Camb. Rev. 2 May 456/1 Running through the [Civil] service,..the approach of the empire builder. 1970D. Devine Illegal Tender ii. 20 Wainwright was solely to blame for the inter-departmental tension. He was said to be an empire-builder.
1898Daily News 12 Aug. 6/1 His exploits in the Empire-building line. 1962J. Braine Life at Top ii. 31, I should have to continue as the despised administrator, the nasty unsympathetic accountant who kept his eye on office materials and methods and who..firmly checked any attempts at empire-building. 1962Times 9 Nov. 13/4 One hesitates..to accuse the obstetricians of empire building.
1838Bentley's Misc. IV. 48 The bustle and noise of the empire city. 1857W. 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. 1944Newsweek 24 July 82/3 The Empire City meeting is typical of wartime racing.
1913Fleming & Johnson Insulation & Design of Electrical Windings iii. 107 Except in the case of Empire cloth no appreciable deterioration in the insulation was noted. 1945Electronic Engin. XVII. 498 Among the insulating materials affected are..all cellulose products such as paper, varnished fabric, empire cloth and insulating tape.
1902Times 18 July 8/1 Lord Meath..wrote suggesting that May 24..should be observed as an official holiday under the title of ‘Empire Day’. 1922Chesterton Ballad St. Barbara 74 For the spots are all red and the rest is all grey, And that is the meaning of Empire Day.
1901Empire Rev. I. 370 A concession in support of Empire-grown wine. 1903Daily Chron. 5 Dec. 4/4 Whether we had ‘Empire-grown’ cotton, or depended chiefly on American supplies.
1899Empire-maker [see bean-feast b]. 1903Westm. 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.
1894Daily News 29 Jan. 5/2 Mr. Rhodes is an Empire-making man.
1864Pusey Lect. Daniel ii. 66 The great empire-plan of Alexander. 1878Morley Condorcet 52 Its desire to be an empire-race.
1834Reg. Deb. Congress U.S. 506 We are told, sir, of..the empire State of New York. 1835Knickerbocker V. 51 Show him the public works of the Empire State, as well as those of Pennsylvania. 1841J. Q. Adams in Congress. Globe Sept. App. 433 If there is an ‘Empire State’ in this Union, it is Delaware..[but] if my forty friends from New York choose to call it the Empire State, I will not quarrel with them. 1860Leisure Hour 29 Nov. 765/2 Illinois, the ‘Empire State’ of the mighty West. 1889Farmer Americanisms s.v., The term Empire State of the South has been applied to Georgia. 1903N.Y. Even. Post, The saloon men of Tennessee have not, perhaps, the literary finish..of their brethren in the Empire State. 1948Arizona (Phoenix) Republican 27 Feb. 6/1 The Empire State is ‘in the bag’ for the GOP.
1851Gentl. Mag. CXXI. ii. 54 God bless'd the empire-tree which thou didst plant.
b. Applied to styles of clothing (esp. a dress with a high waistline), furniture, etc., characteristic of the period of the French Empire (see 5 b (c) and (d)).
1869Lady C. Schreiber Jrnl. (1911) I. 29 Green cup and saucer, imitating ‘Empire’ Sèvres. 1870O. Logan Before Footlights 292 How do you manage to pay $60 for your new but ugly little Empire bonnet? 1879Encycl. Brit. IX. 849/2 The ‘empire’ style, a stiff, affected classicalism, prevailed in France during the reign of Napoleon. 1887Academy 18 June 440/1 She wore, of course, an Empire dress. 1888Weldon's Illust. Dressmaker Dec., The Empire and Directoire styles are steadily increasing in popularity. 1889R. Brook Elem. Style Furnit. 29 As in all other French styles, ‘Empire’ was closely imitated in this country. Ibid., 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. 1901E. Singleton Furnit. of our Forefathers II. 573 Empire sofa owned by Mrs. William Young, Baltimore, Md. 1904H. E. Binstead Furnit. Styles x. 116 It is never difficult to determine what is Empire. 1905A. Hayden Chats on Old Furnit. 208 The wood used for..Empire cabinets is rich mahogany. a1910‘O. Henry’ Sixes & Sevens (1916) xiii. 129 High-collared, baggy, empire-waisted, ample-skirted. 1958Vogue Apr. 18 Choose this Empire-line charmer in swirling full length. 1967E. Short Embroidery & Fabric Collage ii. 41 The same design would have been unthinkable on say an Empire dress of seventy years earlier. 1968Harrods Xmas Catal. 15/2 An Empire line slip in nylon. 1970Oxford Times 25 Sept. 11/5 She wore a full length white empire line dress with a guipure lace bodice and circular train trimmed with guipure lace.
c. Applied to wines and spirits grown in the British Empire (Commonwealth) and imported into Great Britain.
1937Auden in Auden & MacNeice Lett. f. Iceland v. 57 Someone may think that Empire wines are nice. 1954P. Frankau Wreath for Enemy iii. v. 210 You would look like an advertisement for Empire Burgundy. 1965R. Jeffries Dead against Lawyers ix. 94, I can offer you Empire sherry or a beer?
▪ II. † ˈempire, v. Obs.
Also impire, em-, impyre.
[f. prec. n.]
intr. To rule absolutely as an emperor. Const. above, of, on.
1556Calvin's Com. Prayer Bk. in Phenix (1708) II. 217 Strangers again empire above us. 1594Carew Tasso (1881) 75 At pleasure now on starres empyreth he. a1605Montgomerie Sonn. xxxi, Thy sprit..spurris thee..abone the planetis to impyre. 1599Jas. I. βασιλ. Δωρον (1682) 71 Your wrath empyring over your owne passion. 1637Heywood Dial. xiii. Wks. 1874 VI. 225, I empir'd o're All Caria.
▪ III. empire
var. of empyre a., empyrean. |