Master of the Universe

Noun

Master of the Universe (plural Masters of the Universe)

1. God
   • Constantine inscribed these words on the pedestal:— Oh Christ! king and master of the universe, I consecrate this humble tower, this sceptre, and the power of Rome, to thee!1849, William Francis Lynch, Narrative Of The United States Expedition To The River Jordan And The Dead Sea
   • Svarogu, the god of the ancient pagan Slavs, should no doubt equally be placed. Like Zeus, like Jupiter, like Varuna, like Ahura Mazda, he is the master of the universe, the gods are his children, and it is from him that they have received their functions.1879, James Darmesteter, “The Supreme God in the Indo-European Mythology”, in Littell's Living Age, volume 143, number 1845
2. (idiomatic) A powerful person.
   • First, by them made obstinate by the onetime masters of the universe.1557, Edgar Leoni, transl., Epistle to Henry II, translation of original by Nostradamus
   • I have told you, where the air is pure, where every sound soothes, where one is sure to be humbled, however proud may be his nature. I love that humiliation, I, who am master of the universe, as was Augustus1845, Alexander Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo

   Synonyms:

   baron, big cheese, big enchilada, big gun, big kahuna, big man, big name, big noise, big shot, bigwig

3. (idiomatic) A highly successful business person.
   • The Masters of the Universe were a set of lurid, rapacious plastic dolls that his otherwise perfect daughter liked to play with. […] On Wall Street he and a few others—how many?—three hundred, four hundred, five hundred?—had become precisely that. . . Masters of the Universe. There was . . . no...1987, Tom Wolfe, The Bonfire of the Vanities, New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, page 12
   • They had their suit jackets off, and at this hour of morning—9:20 a.m.—they were leaning back in their seats, reading their Wall Street Journals, and congratulating themselves on being young Masters of the Universe.2007, Jordan Belfort, The Wolf of Wall Street, New York: Bantam Books, →ISBN, page 1

   Synonyms:

   baron, big cheese, big enchilada, big gun, big kahuna, big man, big name, big noise, big shot, bigwig