lording 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
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
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