Forms: 4 conquerur, 4–5 -roure, -querrour, 4–7 -querour, 5 -quirour, 6 -querer, (Sc. concreour), 6– conqueror. [a. AF. conquerour, OF. conquereor (later conquereur, Cotgr.), oblique case of conquerere:—L. types *conquærētōrem, *conquærētor, agent-n. f. *conquærēre: see CONQUER.
Parallel forms in Pr. were quereire, enquereire, obl. case queredor. The corresponding nominative form in OF. would have -eire, -oire; but at an early date, this ending was conformed to -ere, the phonetic representative of the L. nominative -ātor. The various oblique forms -ātōrent, -ētōrem, -itōrem had fallen together phonetically as -edor, whence -eor, -eur; and the nominatives were analogically leveled under the most frequent form -ere.]
1. One who gains possession of a country, etc., by force of arms; one who subdues or subjugates a nation; one who conquers or vanquishes an adversary, a victor. (Cf. the synonymous CONQUESTOR, CONQUESOR.)
a. 1300. Cursor M., 3 (Cott.). Alisaunder þe conquerour.
1307. Elegy Edw. I., in Pol. Songs (Camden), 250 Thou art cleped conquerour In uch bataille thou hadest pris.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., B. 1322. As conquerour of vche a cost he cayser watz hatte.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XII. xi. (1495), 421. He that is ouercome is obedyente to the conquerour.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 65. This ilke kyde conquerour.
c. 1500. Lancelot, 343. The worthi conqueroure Arthure.
1593. Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., II. v. 12. Both tugging to be Victors, brest to brest: Yet neither Conqueror, nor Conquered.
1641. J. Jackson, True Evang. T., III. 209. In Warre, even the Conqueror is commonly a loser.
1769. Robertson, Chas. V., VI. vi. 114. The conquerors of that unfortunate quarter of the globe.
1839. Thirlwall, Greece, VII. 367. After the battle, it remained for the conquerors to divide the spoil.
1871. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), IV. 13. William was a foreign Conqueror, King in very truth only by the edge of the sword.
b. Used as a distinctive surname or title of victorious princes; esp. in Eng. Hist. of William I., often referred to familiarly as ‘the Conqueror.’
So far as English or Anglo-Fr. evidence goes, there appears no reason to think that as applied to William I., this term or its corresponding med.L. conquæstor, conquestor, conquisitor (see CONQUESTOR) meant anything else than ‘conqueror’ in sense 1, = domitor or expugnator Anglorum, triumphator Angliæ of the contemporary chroniclers. The notion that conquestor had here only the sense of ‘acquirer’ or ‘purchaser’ as distinguished from ‘inheritor’ (see sense 2, and CONQUEST 5, in Scotch Law), appears to have been first started by Spelman (or his posthumous editors), whence it was taken by Blackstone and later writers. The historical evidence as to the use of the word shows that the appellation Conqueror, Conquæstor was applied to William the Great, just as to Alexander the Great, to Charles the Great, to Jayme I. of Arragon (el Conquistador), etc.
[cf. a. 1300, c. 1500, above.]
a. 1300. Cursor M., 24791 (Cott.). Willam basterd … He þat conquerur was gode, and for to warrai vnderstode; Sua stalworth man he was of hand, þat with his forse he wan the land.
[c. 1300. Langtoft, Chron. (Rolls), I. 436. William le Conquerour … Engleterre conquist par graunt vasselage, Sur le ray Harald.]
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Langtoft (1810), 86. William þe Conquerour … Alle England he wan þorgh his vassalage & Harold kyng ouer ran. Ibid., 85. The conquerour is laid at Kame dede in graue.
1536. Bellenden, Cron. Scot. (1821), I. lxiv. William, the Bastard and Concreour of Ingland, tuk the crown efter the slauchter of king Herald.
1598. Bp. Hall, Sat., IV. ii. 136. And tels how first his famous ancestor Did come in long since with the Conquerour.
1867. Freeman, Norm. Conq., I. Pref. Down to the actual accession of William the Conqueror. Ibid. (1869), (1876), III. xvi. 561. The work of the Conquest was now formally completed; the Conqueror sat in the royal seat of England.
c. transf. and fig.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, V. 794. But who-so myghte wynnen swych a flour … He myghte seyn he were a conquerour.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 56 b. A conquerour of his owne wyll.
1557. N. T. (Genev.), Rom. viii. 37. Neuerthelesse, in all these thynges we are more then conquerers, through him that loued vs.
1606. Shaks., Ant. & Cl., IV. xiv. 62. I am conqueror of my selfe.
1768–74. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1852), II. 399. The Saviour of mankind … must be a conqueror by a conquest greater than that of the world, the conquest of himself.
d. The victor in a contest of skill or strength, in a game, etc.
1656. Cowley, Pind. Odes (1687), 20. The Conquerours in the Olympique Games were … crowned with a Garland of Wild Olive.
1674. trans. Scheffer’s Lapland, xxiv. 108. And he that at one leap compasses the greatest space of ground, is reckon’d the Conqueror.
attrib. 1601. Holland, Pliny, I. 221. He made an end of the conquerour champion.
e. colloq. = Conquering game.
Mod. We have not time to play the conqueror [at whist].
† 2. Sc. Law. One who acquires property otherwise than by inheritance: see CONQUEST 5. Obs.
1597. Skene, De Verb. Signif., s.v. Conquestus, Gif conquests lands, after the decease of the Conquerour, dois anis ascende to ony person.
