| 释义 |
imperious, a.|ɪmˈpɪərɪəs|
Also 6–7 em-.
[ad. L. imperiōs-us possessed of command, commanding, imperious, f. imperium command: see -ous. Cf. F. impérieux (15th c. in Hatz.-Darm.).]
†1. Having the rank of, or belonging to or befitting, an emperor or supreme ruler; imperial.
c1586C'tess Pembroke Ps. lxxxix. ix, The orders Which his imperious hand for laws shall signe. 1588Shakes. Tit. A. iv. iv. 81 King, be thy thoughts Imperious like thy name. c1592Marlowe Massacre Paris ii. v, 'Tis more than kingly or emperious. 1632Heywood 2nd Pt. Iron Age ii. i. Wks. 1874 III. 380 Thetis, The Emperious goddesse of the Sea. 1650Don Bellianis 118 Most mighty Sophy of Syconia, and imperious Soldan of this great Persian Monarchy. 1703Pope Thebais 257 Can this imperious lord forget to reign?
†2. Exercising a commanding influence; ruling, sovereign, dominant; having a commanding position, aspect, demeanour, etc.; majestic, stately. Obs. (or merged in 3 or 4).
1592Daniel Compl. Rosamond Wks. (1717) 39, I joy'd the happiest Warmth..That ever yet imperious Beauty tasted. 1596Drayton Legends iii. 474 It is Emperious, both o'r Love and Hate. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 366 Three Artes, that exercise most imperious power over the mindes of men; Physicke,..Religion,..Mathematicall Sciences. 1638Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 127 A brave Castle..mounted upon an imperious hill. Ibid. 182 The imperious Mountaine Taurus. 1649Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. ii. viii. 59 Faith and Repentance, those two potent and imperious faculties. a1680Butler Remains (1759) I. 264 For to instruct is greater than to rule, And no Command's s'imperious as a School. 1812–19Crabbe Tales, Dumb Orat. 54 To his experience and his native sense He join'd a bold imperious eloquence.
3. Overbearing, domineering, dictatorial. (The prevailing modern sense.)
1555[implied in imperiously 2]. 1574Whitgift Def. Aunsw. i. Wks. (Parker Soc.) I. 164 By this word..all kind of domination is not signified, but that which is joined with a certain imperious cruelty. 1579–80North Plutarch (1676) 802 The over-licentious and imperious tyranny of Dionysius. 1613Heywood Braz. Age iv. Wks. 1874 III. 242 Th' Emperious Queene Doth tyranize ore captiue Hercules. 1653R. Sanders Physiogn. 76 An imperious commanding woman, that wears the Breeches. 1710Steele Tatler No. 231 ⁋2 [She] had from her Infancy discovered so imperious a Temper (usually called a High Spirit). 1859Tennyson Geraint & Enid 190 A youthful face, Imperious, and of haughtiest lineaments. 1879Froude Cæsar vii. 62 A proud, imperious aristocrat, contemptuous..of popular rights.
4. Urgent, absolute, overmastering, imperative.
1541[implied in imperiously 3]. 1623Bingham Xenophon 30 The day before he sent an Imperious commandement to deliuer vp our armes, and now this day he imploied messengers about a truce. 1663Cowley Verses & Ess., Ode Liberty i, Now wild Ambition with imperious force Rides, rains, and spurs them like th' unruly Horse. 1789Bentham Princ. Legisl. xiii. §4 The laws of honour..make it an imperious duty to succour the weak. 1877E. R. Conder Bas. Faith ii. 47 The imperious necessity which urges us. 1894H. Drummond Ascent Man 278 Hunger was early seen..to be the first and most imperious appetite of all living things. |