Obs. Forms: 1 caser, 1–2 (5) casere, 1–3 kasere, 3 kaserr, 5 kasar, 7 cazard. [OE. cásere, repr. the Comm. Teut. type kaisar, ad. L. Cæsar or Gr. Καῖσαρ, the ai giving OE. á, as in native words. The southern ME. form would have been cōser; but the word is known only in the northern form, having been early supplanted by the newer adoptions KAISER and CÆSAR.
The ending is conformed to the -ere of agent-nouns like dómere, bócere, etc.; cf. ON. keisari. But the Lindisf. Gosp. Gloss has caser as dat. and acc. (dat. also casere, -eri, -ari), and in the genitive cæsares, casseres, cessares.]
The Emperor, an emperor; = KAISER.
c. 888. K. Ælfred, Boeth., xxxviii. § 1. Þæs kaseres nama wæs Agamenon.
a. 900. Martyrol. Fragm., in O. E. Texts, 178. Datianus se casere.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., John xix. 15. Nabbo we cyning buta ðone caser.
a. 1154. O. E. Chron., an. 1106. ʓewinn betwux þam Casere of Sexlande and his sunu.
c. 1200. Ormin, 8329. Þe Romanisshe king … Þatt ta wass Kaserr oferr hemm. Ibid., 9172. He wass sett to beon Kasere i Rome riche.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., V. ix. 2742. Casere, kyng, na empriowre.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., xiv. 220. That prynce that shalle ouer com in hy kasar and kyng.
a. 1605. Montgomerie, Misc. Poems, iii. 40. Sho [Fortune] counts not kings nor cazards mair nor cuiks. Ibid., xiv. 43.
Comb. c. 1200. Ormin, 3270. An Romanisshe Kaserrking Wass Augusstuss ȝehatenn. Ibid., 3294, etc.
