Also, amír. [a. Arab. (Pers. and Urdu) amīr commander, f. amara to tell, order, command. As a historical Saracen title commonly spelt EMIR; the spelling Amír, Ameer, is used of modern Indian and Afghan rulers.]
† 1. = EMIR. Obs.
1614. Selden, Titles of Hon., 49. In the Mahumedan state, they haue the name of Ameras, Amir, or Amera (applied to their great Sultan) which truly … may expresse Dominus or Lord.
1615. Bedwell, Arab. Trudg., s.v. Amir, Foure lieutenants, (Amir’s they call them).
1679. Jenison, Narr. Pop. Plot, 40. The Moorish Amir told the Embassadors, [etc.].
2. The title of various Mohammedan rulers in Scinde and Afghanistan; now specially of the latter.
1803. Colebrooke, Asiat. Res., vii. 220. It will be sufficient to instance those of … Amīr Khān Anjām.
1870. Knight, Crown Hist. Eng., lxv. 898. Scinde … was, in 1842, under the rule of a body of despotic nobles, the Ameers.
1883. Daily News, 4 April, 2/1. The Ameer of Afghanistan had expressed a wish to visit India.
