lordship

Noun

lordship (countable and uncountable, plural lordships)

1. The state or condition of being a lord.
   • For example, we know that Alfred did connect land tenure with lordship and that he was particularly interested in questions of military service[…]2004, Alice Sheppard, Families of the King: Writing Identity in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, page 27
   • Lordship entails both privilege and responsibility. Lords have power over their subjects, but that power is granted them so that they can protect and provide for others.2011, Daniel Frankforter, Word of God - Words of Men: The Use and Abuse of Scripture, page 93
2. (broadly, capitalized, often) Title applied to a lord, bishop, judge, or another man with a title.
   • May I ask that the order be granted, if your lordship so pleases?
   • 'He's had his bath,' she said. 'He's just had his bath, bless his little lordship's heart.'1946, Mervyn Peake, Titus Groan
3. (humorous) A man (sometimes a boy) who is behaving in a seigneurial manner or acting like a lord, behaving in a bossy manner or lording it up
4. Seigniory; domain; the territory over which a lord holds jurisdiction; a manor.
   • What lands and lordships for their owner know / My quondam barber, but his worship now.c. 1690, Juvenal, translated by John Dryden, The Tenth Satire of Juvenal
   • […]for whose ransom he compelled Lord Percy to build the castle of Punnoon, in the lordship of Eaglesham.1832, John Burke, A General and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire, volume I, page 425
5. Dominion; power; authority.
   • But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Mark 10:42