[f. as prec. + -RY.]
1. The rank of chieftain, chieftaincy; the rule or territory of a chieftain.
1747. Carte, Hist. Eng., I. 189. They were … divided into the like petty chieftaineries, as we find them to have been in Wales.
1773. Johnson, Lett., I. lxxx. 144. The Laird … has sometimes disputed the chieftainry of the clan with Macleod of Skie.
1807. G. Chalmers, Caledonia, I. III. v. 366, note. The property, and chieftainry of Fergus descended to his son.
1833. Blackw. Mag., XXXIV. 326. The necessity for strong measures in a country of half-barbarian chieftainries.
2. A body of chieftains collectively.
1807. Annual Rev., V. 584. An aristocratic chieftainry.
1836. B. D. Walsh, Aristoph., Acharnians, II. iv. Not thought to hate the chieftainry.
