empery

Noun

empery (plural emperies)

1. (archaic) An empire; the status or dominion of an emperor.
   • 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.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...
   • Secondly, the Largeneſs of his Empery, and the firſt Conquest of Ireland, long before the Reign of K. Hen. the Second.1604, Edward Coke, “To the Reader”, in The Fourth Part of the Reports of Sir Edward Coke, Kt.
2. (archaic) Absolute power or authority.
   • 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.1833, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Prometheus Bound
   • 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 hold, and such the heritage
     This gentle solemn Spirit doth possess,
     Being a better mirror of his age
     In all his pity, love, and weariness,
     Than those...a. 1881, Oscar Wilde, 'The Garden of Eros', in Poems

   Synonyms:

   dominion, sovereignty