lord over

Verb

lord over (third-person singular simple present lords over, present participle lording over, simple past and past participle lorded over)

1. (transitive) Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see lord, over: to act as a lord or boss in relation to (someone or something).
   • But if you think that you can lord over him, then he is going to lord over you — he'll be your lord and master with force.1996, Esther Greenberg, Aviva Rappaport, Woman to Woman, →ISBN
   • If women are to be subservient to men, as erroneously taught, then the obvious conclusion is that men will lord over women just as they are to lord over the land and the animals and so on.2006, Jim Young, Keys to the Door of Truth: Metaphysical Musings of a Born-yet-again, →ISBN
2. To dominate; to have the most prominent position among.
   • It sat at the highest point, at the very top of the hill, visible from every marker and tombstone in the cemetery, a brooding Gothic castle-in-miniature that seemed to lord over the lesser sites like the abode of a medieval prince.2009, Rick Yancey, The Monstrumologist, →ISBN, page 48
   • In that way, the Indo-European language adopted the geographic terms of the Fem-Fertility WV system it came to lord over.2010, Charles Brough, The Last Civilization, →ISBN, page 45
3. To use something as evidence of one's superiority over.
   • If by chance they come across his method [of study], they inevitably use it to lord over common scholars, with the result that others look up to them in awe.2009, Philip J. Ivanhoe, On Ethics and History: Essays and Letters of Zhang Xuecheng, →ISBN, page 70
   • Sure, I loved her like a sister, but if she was going to deprive me of a glamorous evening with Xavier and not even have the decency to feel bad about it, then I was going to find something to lord over her too.2011, Shallon Lester, Exes and Ohs, →ISBN