Also 6 supremasie, -isie, 6–7 -acie, -icie, 7 -acye, supreamacie, 8 supreamacy. [f. SUPREME a. + -ACY 2. Hence F. suprématie, It. supremazia, Sp., Pg. supremacia.]
1. The condition of being supreme in authority, rank or power; position of supreme or highest authority or power.
a. with reference to the position of the sovereign (royal or regal supremacy) as supreme head in earth of the Church of England (as declared in the statute 26 Hen. VIII., c. 1, an. 1534), or as supreme governor of England in spiritual and temporal matters (as in 1 Eliz., c. 1, an. 1558–9). Also used retrospectively of the more indefinite authority claimed by earlier sovereigns.
Act of Supremacy (or Supremacy Act), any of the acts of parliament in which this is laid down. Oath of (the King’s) Supremacy, the oath in which this is acknowledged.
1549. Bk. Com. Prayer, Ord. Deacons. The Othe of the Kynges Supremacie. I from henceforth shal utterly renounce … the Bysshop of Rome, and his aucthoritie, power, and iurisdiction…. And I from hencefoorth wyll … take the Kynges Maiestie, to be the onely Supreme head in earth, of the Church of Englande.
1554. Act 1 & 2 Philip & M., c. 8 § 42. Albeit the Title or Stile of Supremacye or Supreme Hedd of the Churche of Englande and of Irelande … never was … lawfully attributed … to any King … of this Realme.
1603. Const. & Canons Eccles., ii. Whosoeuer shall hereafter … impeach in any part his [the King’s] regal Supremacy in the said causes [ecclesiastical] restored to the Crowne.
1626. in Ellis, Orig. Lett., Ser. I. III. 243. All three of them have taken the Oath of Allegiance, some say of Supremacy also.
1710. Managers’ Pro & Con, 62. If the Party will allow the Queen her Supreamacy.
1769. Blackstone, Comm., IV. 53. The statute 1 W. & M. st. 2. c. 18 … which exempts all dissenters … from all penal laws relating to religion, provided they take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy.
1839. Keightley, Hist. Eng., I. 103. [William the Conqueror] asserted his royal supremacy over the clergy of England.
1880. Encycl. Brit., XI. 664/2. Sir Thomas More and Fisher … were executed for refusing to accept the Supremacy Act (1535).
1884. Encycl. Brit., XVII. 701/1. Statutes of Charles II. and George I. enacted that no member should vote or sit in either house of parliament without having taken the several oaths of allegiance, supremacy, and abjuration.
b. with reference to the supreme authority of the see or bishop of Rome (papal supremacy).
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 222. Those places of scripture, which the Bishop [of Rome] doeth vsurpe to establyshe hys supremacie [orig. ad sui primatus confirmationem].
1561. T. Norton, Calvin’s Inst., I. Pref. So that no man lift vp hys fynger agaynst the supremicie of the Apostolike sea.
1624. Gataker, Transubst., 132. So long as he acknowledgeth the Popes Supremacie.
1714. Fortescue-Aland, Pref. Fortescue’s Abs. & Lim. Mon., 69. Possibly Rome had not then resolved to derive her Supremacy from St. Peter.
1757. in Cath. Rec. Soc. Publ., VII. 189. The learned Bossuett makes it an article of faith, the Supremacy of ye pope, as does the Councill of Trent.
c. gen. in the relation of one person, sovereign, state, etc., to another, or of God to the universe.
1547. Tonstall, in Burnet, Hist. Ref. (1681), II. I. Collect. Rec., 107. I fortuned to find many Writings for the Supremacy of the King to the Realm of Scotland.
1584. B. R., trans. Herodotus, I. 31. Determining to atchieue ye supremisie.
1596. Shaks., Tam. Shr., V. ii. 109. Peace it boads, and loue, and quiet life, An awfull rule, and right supremicie.
1614. Raleigh, Hist. World, III. xii. § 5. 150. They (who had beene accustomed vnto such a supremacie, as they would in no wise communicate with … Athens…).
1667. Milton, P. L., III. 205. Man disobeying … sinns Against the high Supremacie of Heav’n.
1782. Priestley, Corrupt. Chr., I. I. 150. The divine being cannot give his own supremacy.
1835. Thirlwall, Greece, viii. I. 291. The steps by which Sparta rose to a supremacy above the rest of the Dorian states.
1847. Prescott, Peru (1850), II. 170. The Indian lords then tendered their obeisance … after which the royal notary read aloud the instrument asserting the supremacy of the Castilian Crown.
1848. R. I. Wilberforce, Doctr. Incarnation, iv. (1852), 74. A supremacy over them [sc. the inferior creatures], had been the result of Adam’s likeness to their Creator.
1856. Dove, Logic Chr. Faith, VI. § 4. 354. Revelation exhibits … the supremacy of God.
d. With possessive as a mock title.
1760–72. H. Brooke, Fool of Qual. (1809), II. 14. Truth, so please your supremacy, has been sunk in … a well.
e. fig. Said of qualities, influences, etc.
1583. Melbancke, Philotimus, G iij. I giue you the supremasie of my soule, vse it as you list.
1663. Patrick, Parab. Pilgr., xxxii. (1687), 387. It suffers reason to retain its throne, or rather exalts … its Supremacy … to a greater height.
1809–10. Coleridge, Friend, I. vi. (1865), 25. The disbelief of essential wisdom and goodness … prepares the imagination for the supremacy of cunning with malignity.
1874. Green, Short Hist., iii. § 4. 133. Abelard claimed for reason the supremacy over faith.
2. Supreme position in achievement, character or estimation.
1589. Greene, Menaphon (Arb.), 35. Iuno for maiestie, Pallas for wisedome, and Venus for beautie had let my Samela haue the supremacie.
1693. Dryden, Juvenal, Ded. (1697), p. viii. That your Lordship is form’d by Nature for this Supremacy, I cou’d easily prove … from the distinguishing Character of your Writing.
1836. Hor. Smith, Tin Trumpet (1876), 335. The discovery that water would resist being boiled above 212 degrees has conferred upon England its manufacturing supremacy.
1872. Yeats, Techn. Hist. Comm., 250. To secure the naval supremacy of Athens over the rest of the Greek states.
1879. Cassell’s Techn. Educ., III. 154. English gunpowder has long held almost undisputed supremacy as to excellence of quality and strength.
