empery

[ em-puh-ree ]

noun

, plural em·per·ies.

1. absolute dominion; sovereignty.

empery

/ ˈɛmpərɪ /

noun

1. archaic.
   dominion or power; empire

Word History and Origins

Origin of empery¹

1250–1300; Middle English emperie < Anglo-French < Latin imperium mastery, sovereignty, empire, equivalent to imper ( āre ) to rule ( emperor ) + -ium -ium

Word History and Origins

Origin of empery¹

C13 (in the sense: the status of an emperor): from Anglo-French emperie, from Latin imperium power; see empire

Example Sentences

Whatever of true life there was in thee Leaps in our age's veins; Wield still thy bent and wrinkled empery, And shake thine idle chains;— To thee thy dross is clinging, For us thy martyrs die, thy prophets see, Thy poets still are singing.

From Project Gutenberg

Far to the west they trailed their watery burdens to the hills: she queened above them—queenly serene, aloof in the unbounded vault that all her empery of stars about her ruled and divided subject to her rule.

From Project Gutenberg

Like every verse writer of his time Oscar Wilde had felt the wondrous influence of Rossetti, and no finer tribute to the painter could be written than the lines— "All the World for him A gorgeous coloured vestiture must wear, And Sorrow take a purple diadem, 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 held."

From Project Gutenberg

So also is there a peculiar happiness in the use of "empery."

From Project Gutenberg

For money is the talent of supreme empery: Gold, Gold 80 Envieth all, getteth all, absorbeth, mastereth all things: It pusheth out & thrusteth away pitilessly the weak ones, Those ill-fated, opprest, unfortun'd needy: Beneath them Yawns the abyss.

From Project Gutenberg