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aristocracy|ærɪˈstɒkrəsɪ|
Also 6–7 -cratie, -y.
[ad. L. aristocratia, Gr. ἀριστοκρατία, f. ἄριστος best + -κρατία rule. Cf. F. aristocracie (14th c.).]
In earlier usage generally contrasted with monarchy; since the French Revolution, with democracy.
1. In the literal sense of the Gr.: The government of a state by its best citizens. Also fig.
[1531Elyot Gov. (1875) 9 In the Greke tunge called Aristocratia..in englisshe, the rule of men of beste disposicion.] 1561T. N[orton] Calvin's Inst. Table, Aristocracy [is] the government of the best choisest men. c1651Hobbes Rhetoric (1840) 435 Aristocracy is that, wherein the highest magistrate is chosen out of those that have had the best education. 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. xlv. (1846) IV. 257 A perfect aristocracy of reason and virtue. 1850Carlyle Latter-d. Pamph. iii. 41 The attainment of a truer and truer Aristocracy, or Government again by the Best.
†2. concr. A ruling body of the best citizens.
1605B. Jonson Foxe iii. iii, If the Senate Right not my quest in this; I will protest 'hem, To all the world, no aristocracy.
3. That form of government in which the chief power lies in the hands of those who are most distinguished by birth or fortune; political supremacy of a privileged order; oligarchy.
1577tr. Bullinger's Decades (1592) 169 The Aristocracie is the superior power of a few Peeres. 1623Massinger Bond-man i. iii, To change the aristocracy of Corinth Into an absolute monarchy. 1701Bp. Lloyd Marg. Readg. to Gen. xxxvi. 39 After his death was an aristocracy. 1876Bancroft Hist. U.S. VI. l. 378 Despotisms, monarchies, and aristocracies must conform to them.
b. A state having this form of government.
1603Holland Plutarch's Mor. 72 Those States which be called Aristocraties..governed by a Senate or Counsel of the greatest men. 1751Chambers Cycl. s.v., The republic of Venice is an aristocracy. 1865Pall Mall G. 29 Sept. 1/2 If by an aristocracy we mean..a country in which distinguished birth, inherited wealth, and education, are the chief titles to political power.
4. concr. A ruling body of nobles, an oligarchy.
1611Coryat Crudities 390, I cannot informe thee of their aristocratie [of Venice]. 1660R. Coke Power & Subj. 55 Aristocracy is when a company of men met in Councel, ascribe to themselves whatsoever power is due to any rightful monarch..Such were the Roman Senate, and Ephori of Lacedæmon. 1719Steele To Earl Oxford 322 The aristocracy over these dominions.
This passes gradually into:
5. The class to which such a ruling body belongs, a patrician order; the collective body of those who form a privileged class with regard to the government of their country; the nobles. The term is popularly extended to include all those who by birth or fortune occupy a position distinctly above the rest of the community, and is also used fig. of those who are superior in other respects.
1651Hobbes Leviath. ii. xix. 98 Aristocracie..an Assembly of certain persons nominated, or otherwise distinguished from the rest. 1776Adam Smith W.N. II. v. iii. 547 No oppressive aristocracy has ever prevailed in the colonies. 1795in Trans. Philol. Soc. (1858) 52 [The Attorney-General in Horne Tooke's trial says] To the rich was given the name aristocracy. 1838Hallam Hist. Lit. II. ii. iv. §52 The distinguishing characteristic of an aristocracy is the enjoyment of privileges which are not communicable to other citizens simply by anything they can themselves do to obtain them. 1843F. Paget Ward. Berking. 74 A test of what our Aristocracy do in proportion to their means. 1845Disraeli Sybil (1863) 88 There is no longer in fact an aristocracy in England, for the superiority of the animal man is an essential quality of aristocracy. 1861Mill Utilit. (1864) 95 So it will be..with the aristocracies of colour, race, and sex. 1866Rogers Agric. & Prices Introd., Our aristocracy and gentry date, on the whole, from the days of Henry the Eighth. 1881Seeley in Macm. Mag. XLV. 47/1 From the democracy of readers..appeal must be made to the aristocracy of students, to those who make a business of knowledge.
6. = aristocraticism.
1822Byron in Moore Lett. 558 My aristocracy which is very fierce makes him a favourite of mine. |