[ad. L. ēminēntia, f. ēminēnt-em EMINENT.]
I. In physical senses.
1. † a. Height, altitude, degree of elevation (obs.). b. A lofty or elevated position.
1658. Evelyn, Fr. Gard. (1675), 278. Upon this water … pour sweet butter melted, to the eminence of two fingers.
c. 1800. K. White, Poet. Wks. (1837), 136. Draw the fix’d stars from their eminence.
1822. Imison, Sc. & Art, I. 222. If a lighted candle be set … on an eminence.
† 2. a. A prominence, protuberance. Chiefly in Anat. b. Bot. (See quot. 1688.) Obs.
1615. Crooke, Body of Man, 438. Wherein the eminence … shooting from the vpper part of the forehead is wanting.
1667. Phil. Trans., II. 492–3. Concerning the Tongue, the same Author hath discovered in it many little Eminences, which he calls Papillary.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, 115/1. Eminence, or Woolly Eminence, is the outward skin or husk that covers round roots, as in Onions, Tulipa’s.
1743. trans. Heister’s Surg., 168. There is a certain Eminence in this Edge of the Acetabulum.
3. An elevation on the earth’s surface; a rising ground, hill. Also fig.
1670. Cotton, Espernon, III. XI. 567. He caus’d two good Forts to be trac’d out in his own presence upon two Eminences that commanded that Bridge.
1748. Anson, Voy., III. v. (ed. 4), 452. There is a battery … on an eminence.
1797. Bewick, Brit. Birds (1847), I. 7. The other, perched on an eminence, watches the flight of the prey.
1814. Wordsw., Excursion, IX. 53. We … speak … of Age As of a final Eminence.
1833. Sir J. Herschel, Astron., i. § 19 (1858), 17. If we ascend a high eminence on a plain.
1844. Lingard, Anglo-Sax. Ch. (1858), I. i. 5. He was beheaded on a small eminence without the walls.
II. In non-material senses.
4. Distinguished superiority, elevated rank as compared with others. (Sometimes with fig. notion of 1.) a. in social or official position, wealth or power.
1603. Shaks., Meas. for M., I. ii. 168. Whether the Tirranny be in his Eminence that fills it vp. Ibid. (1613), Hen. VIII., II. iii. 29. A Womans heart, which euer yet affected Eminence, Wealth, Soueraignty.
a. 1652. Brome, Queene’s Exchange, I. i. (1657), 458. Your self A Queen of so great eminence.
1667. Milton, P. L., II. 6. Satan by merit rais’d to that bad eminence.
1767. Lett. Junius, xxiii. 105. The eminence of your station gave you a commanding prospect of your duty.
1848. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 165. No man could hope to rise to eminence and command but by their favour.
b. in reputation, intellectual or moral attainment, or the possession of any quality, good or (sometimes) bad.
1647. Clarendon, Hist. Reb. (1702), I. I. 36. His Son made a notable progress, by an early eminence in Practice, and Learning.
1750. Johnson, Rambler, No. 157, ¶ 4. A young man that gave … hopes of future eminence.
1800. Med. Jrnl., IV. 406. Several surgeons of eminence.
1844. Emerson, Nature, Young American, Wks. (Bohn), II. 307. No man of letters, be his eminence what it may, is received into the best society.
1868. M. Pattison, Academ. Org., 112. Eminence in science should be made the one statutable condition [for a headship].
1870. Hawthorne, Eng. Note-bks,. II. 28. The poorer classes of Glasgow excel even those of Liverpool in the bad eminence of filth.
† c. Mastery, the ‘upper hand.’ Phrase To have the eminence of: to have the advantage of. Obs.
1606. Shaks., Tr. & Cr., II. iii. 266. You should not haue the eminence of him.
1613. Heywood, Silver Age, III. i. Wks. (1874), 131. Long did we tugge For eminence.
† d. Spirit of eminence: pride, ambition. Obs. rare.
1597. Daniel, Civ. Wares, VI. xxxiii. Devotion … abates the spirit of eminence.
5. As a title of honor, now borne only by Cardinals. (See quot. 1836.)
1653. Cromwell, to Cdl. Mazarin (Carlyle), V. App. No. 27. It’s surprise to me that your Eminence should take notice of a person so inconsiderable as myself.
1717. Berkeley, Tour in Italy, Wks. 1871, IV. 514. His eminence … put on his cardinal’s square cap.
1836. Penny Cycl., VI. 291/1. Urban VIII., in 1630, gave to the cardinals the title of Eminence, which was shared with them by the grand master of the order of Malta, and the ecclesiastical electors of the German or Roman empire only.
1884. Weekly Reg., 11 Oct., 451/2. One word, his Eminence said he would add, concerning the Rosary.
† 6. Acknowledgement of superiority, homage.
1605. Shaks., Macb., III. ii. 31. Present him Eminence, both with Eye and Tongue.
† 7. An eminent quality, an excellence; a distinction, honor. Obs.
1609. Man in Moone (1849), 16. You assume it an eminence, to be rarely arrayed.
1655. Fuller, Ch. Hist., II. 128. His Eminences were Painting and Graving. Ibid., IX. 101. So severall eminences met in this worthy man.
1659. Pearson, Creed (1710), 22. There must be therefore some great eminence in the object worshipped.
† 8. Eminent degree or measure. Obs.
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., I. x. 41. Natural Power, is the eminence of the Faculties of Body, or Mind.
1710. Steele, Tatler, No. 206, ¶ 2. Men of our Acquaintance, who had no one Quality in any Eminence.
b. Gram. (See quot.)
1824. L. Murray, Eng. Gram., i. 91. [The superlative formed with very] is called … the superlative of eminence, to distinguish it from the other superlative.
c. Phrase, By (way of) eminence: in an eminent or especial sense, par excellence. (In early examples sometimes in sense 7: by way of distinction.) rare in mod. use.
1621–31. Laud, Sev. Serm. (1847), 66. Now Jerusalem is by way of singular eminence called here ‘a city compacted together.’
1765. Blackstone, Comm., I. 229. The principal council … is generally called, by way of eminence, the council.
1829. I. Taylor, Enthus., ix. 253. This by eminence is the bright omen of the times.
1883. F. A. Walker, Pol. Econ., 399. One kind of money … may be called by eminence political money.
9. The highest development, the ‘flower.’
1857. H. Reed, Lect. Eng. Poets, i. 14. The portion of literature … which may be regarded as its eminence,—its Poetry.
