Forms: 3 emperere, 3–8 emperour(e, (3 amperur, aumperour, 4 emparour, -ur, empere, emperore, -ure, eemperour, 5 emperowre), 5–6 emproure, -ure, (6 emporour, empowr, empoure, -pre-, -prioure), (4 imparour, -ur, imperur, -owr, 4–6 imperour), 4, 6– emperor. [The ME. emperere, emperoure, are respectively ad. OF. emperere(s (nom. case) and empereor (oblique case):—L. imperā·tor, imperātō·rem, agent-noun f. imperāre to command.
The L. imperator, orig. denoting in general the holder of a chief military command, became in the period of the Roman republic a title of honor, bestowed on a victorious general by the acclamation of the army on the field of battle. This title was afterwards conferred by the senate on Julius Cæsar and on Augustus, with reference to the military powers with which the chief of the state was invested; and in accordance with this precedent it was adopted by all the subsequent rulers of the empire except Tiberius and Claudius. In post-classical Latin it became the chief official designation of the sovereign, being interpreted in the sense of ‘absolute ruler’ (in Greek αύτοκράτωρ). In this sense it continued to be applied to the rulers of the Western and Eastern Roman empires until they severally came to an end. In A.D. 800 when the Western empire was nominally revived, the Frankish king Charles the Great (Charlemagne) was crowned by the pope with the title of imperator, implying that he was invested with the same supremacy over European monarchs that the rulers of the earlier Roman empire had possessed. The title continued to be borne by his successors, the heads of the ‘Holy Roman Empire’ (popularly the ‘Empire of Germany’) down to its extinction in 1806. The Romanic (and hence the English) forms of the word were originally applied to the sovereigns of the Eastern empire, to those of the Romano-Germanic empire, and historically to those of the earlier Roman empire. For subsequent extensions of meaning (common to English with the Romanic langs.), see below in sense 3.]
1. The sovereign of the undivided Roman Empire, or of the Western or Eastern Empire.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 244. Þuruh Julianes heste þe Amperur.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 11277 (Cott.). In august time, þe Imparour, Was vs born vr sauueour.
c. 1300. St. Margarete, 23. Liþer was þemperor Diocletian.
c. 1340. Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 4089. He sal be last emparour þat þare sal be.
1388. Wyclif, Matt. xxii. 21. Ȝelde ȝe to the emperoure tho thingis that ben the emperouris.
1480. Caxton, Chron. Eng., IV. (1520), 27 b/2. He was commaunded by the letter of themperoure to come to Rome.
1549. Compl. Scot., 25. Marcus antonius vas venquest be the empriour agustus.
1603. Knolles, Hist. Turks (1631), 35–6. King Baldwin had before married Emanuel the Greek Emperors neece.
1790. Burke, Fr. Rev., 358. Rome, under her emperors, united the evils of both systems.
1833. Cruse, Eusebius, IV. x. 137. This emperor (Adrian,) having finished his mortal career.
2. The head of the Holy Roman Empire, also styled of Almaigne or Germany.
In German documents Kaiser (the Teutonic form of the imperial name CÆSAR) was used in this sense, and is therefore regarded as the German equivalent of ‘emperor.’
1297. R. Glouc. (1724), 486. The aumperour Frederic, & the king Philip of France Alle hii wende to Ierusalem.
c. 1450. Guy Warw. (C.), 4205. Therfore y sey yow, syr emperere.
1529. Rastell, Pastyme, B ii. Philyppe Auguste … wanne a great battell agaynst Otton the Emperour.
c. 1552. Bale, K. Johan, 1. My granfather was an empowr excelent.
1615. Stow, Annales, 661/1. His lordship … taking leaue of the Emperour, departed from Vienna.
1735. Oldmixon, Hist. Eng., Geo. I., vi. 763. The Treaty of Vienna between the Emperor and King of Spain.
1804. [see 3].
1864. Bryce, Holy Rom. Emp. (ed. 5), xii. 186. No act of sovereignty is recorded to have been done by any of the Emperors in England.
3. In wider sense, as a title of sovereignty considered superior in dignity to that of ‘king.’
In the Middle Ages, and subsequently, the title was often applied to extra-European monarchs ruling over wide territories. We still speak of the Emperors of China, Japan, Morocco, and historically of the Mogul Emperors of India and the Emperor of the Aztecs. Since the early part of the 16th c. the title has been used as the equivalent of the Russian Tzar (see CZAR). The Sultans of Turkey (who assumed the style of Keisar-i-Rūm, ‘Cæsar of Rome,’ as successors of the Byzantine emperors) were occasionally spoken of as emperors. Until the present century ‘the Emperor’ always, unless otherwise interpreted by the context, denoted the ‘emperor of Germany.’ But in 1804 Napoleon I. assumed the title of ‘Emperor of the French,’ and in the same year the emperor Francis II. ‘of Germany’ added to his other titles that of ‘Emperor of Austria,’ which he retained when in 1806 he put an end to the Holy Roman Empire by his abdication. Subsequently the style of emperor has been adopted in several other instances. At present (1889), the only sovereigns so called are (apart from Asiatic and African potentates) those of Russia, Austria, Germany (since 1870), and Brazil (since 1822); and in 1876 the title of Empress of India was assumed by Queen Victoria.
c. 1400. Maundev., v. 42. The grete Cham … is the gretteste Emperour … of alle the parties beȝonde.
1533–4. Act 25 Hen. VIII., c. 22 § 1. The laufull kinges and emperours of this realme.
1560. Rolland, Crt. Venus, Prol. 122. As I have red of Kingis and Empreouris.
1611. Shaks., Wint. T., III. ii. 120. The Emperor of Russia was my Father.
1655. M. Carter, Hon. Rediv., 70. Yet our Kings have been styled Emperors, and this Realm of England, called an Empire.
1772. Sir W. Jones, Ess., i. (1777), 185. Being assisted by the emperours of India and China.
1804. trans. Proclam. Francis II., 11 Aug., in Ann. Reg., 695. Immediately after our title of elected emperor of the Romans shall be inserted that of hereditary emperor of Austria.
1836. Penny Cycl., V. 132. Napoleon, by the grace of God … emperor of the French. Ibid., VII. 77. The government of China … depends on the will … of the reigning emperor.
a. 1859. De Quincey, Autobiog. Sk., Wks. 1858, I. 162, note. An emperor is a prince uniting in his own person the thrones of several distinct kingdoms.
1872. Freeman, Gen. Sketch, xvi. § 3 (1874), 330. Since Buonaparte’s time the title of Emperor, which once meant so much, has ceased to have any particular meaning.
b. transf. and fig.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 18179. Þou ert … sa hei wit-all, Bath als king and emparur.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. XXII. 429. Ich wolde Þat … peers … [were] Emperour of alle the worlde.
c. 1400. Rom. Rose, 7217. Of all this world is emperour Gyle my fadir.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 7 b. In heuen, euery man … shall be as an emperour.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., I. iii. 9. Thou’rt an Emperor (Cesar, Keiser and Pheazar). Ibid. (1602), Ham., IV. iii. 22. Your worm is your onely Emperor for diet.
1667. Milton, P. L., II. 510. Nor less Then Hells dread Emperour.
1697. Potter, Antiq. Greece, III. xx. (1715), 149. Neptune the Great Emperor of the Sea.
4. In the popular names of certain butterflies: Purple Emperor, † Emperor of the Woods, Apatura Iris; † Emperor of Morocco, a collector’s name, perh. = Purple Emperor.
1773. Wilkes, Eng. Moths & Butterfl., pl. 120. The Purple Highflier, or Emperor of the Woods.
1775. Harris, Aurelian, pl. 3. Purple Emperor.
1788. P. Pindar (J. Wolcott), title, Sir Joseph Banks and the Emperor of Morocco.
18[?]. Lytton, Kenelm Chil., V. v. A rare butterfly … called the Emperor of Morocco.
† II. 5. a. In the etymological sense = ‘commander.’ b. Rom. Ant. As the rendering of L. imperator in its republican sense (now replaced by the Lat. word). Obs.
c. 1325. K. Alis., 1669. The messangers Buth y-come to heore emperis.
138[?]. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 290. Oure emperoure Crist comaundiþ.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 3670. Þai … ordant hym [Agamynon] Emperour by opyn assent.
1533. Bellenden, Livy, V. (1822), 439. [The] grete justice of thare emprioure Camillus.
1598. W. Phillips, Linschoten’s Trav., in Arb., Garner, III. 23. The ships of an ancient custom, do use to choose an Emperor among themselves.
1598. Grenewey, Tacitus’ Ann., I. iii. (1612), 5. [Augustus] had beene honored with the name of Emperour one and twenty times.
1606. Shaks., Ant. & Cl., IV. xiv. 90. My Captaine, and my Emperor.
1741. C. Middleton, Cicero, II. VII. (1742), 193. Upon this success, Cicero was saluted Emperor.
III. 6. attrib. and Comb., as emperor-king, -maker; emperor-less, -like adjs. (and adv.); also † emperor-clerk, contemptuously for a lord-spiritual; emperor-moth (Saturnia pavonia minor).
138[?]. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 437. Alle degrees of *emperor clerkis. Ibid., Wks. (1880), 447. Of popis, ne of oþere emperour clerkis.
1841. W. Spalding, Italy & It. Isl., III. 60. The *emperor-king passed through Piedmont in triumph.
1882. Athenæum, 30 Dec., 879/2. The great-grand-nephew of the victor of Rossbach put an end … to the *emperor-less period.
1579. Tomson, Calvin’s Serm. Tim., 509/2. It is an *Emperourlike gouernance.
1601. Imp. Consid. Sec. Priests (1675), 54. Thus these great Emperour-like Jesuits do speak to her Majesty.
c. 1630. Drumm. of Hawth., Poems, Wks. (1711), 6/1. And Emperour-like decore With Diadem of Pearl thy Temples fair.
1581. Savile, Tacitus’ Hist., I. xxx. (1591), 18. Prouide … that the raskallest sort be no *Emperour-makers.
1868. J. G. Wood, Homes without H., xiv. 279. The cocoon of the common *Emperor Moth.
