grandee
(grænˈdiː)
Forms: 6–7 grande, 7 grandie, -dy, 7– grandee.
[a. Sp., Pg. grande great (person): see grand a.]
A Spanish or Portuguese nobleman of the highest rank.
| 1598 Parsons Ward-Word to Hasting's Watch-Word viii. 116 One of his Grandes in Spayne. 1610 B. Jonson Alch. iii. iii, Dol. What is he, Generall? Fac. An Adalantado, A Grande, girle. 1631 Dekker Match me in Lond. i. Wks. 1873 IV. 143 The Dons and Grandi'es. 1638 Ford Lady's Trial i. ii. (1639) C 2 b, Under a pretence of being Grandee of Spain, and cousin to twelve Princes. 1705 Lond. Gaz. No. 4161/3 To exasperate the Spanish Grandees. 1814 Wellington in Gurw. Desp. (1838) XII. 34 They raised me to the dignity of a Grandee of Spain of the first class. 1833 Longfellow Outre-Mer Prose Wks. 1886 I. 141 A muleteer bestrides his beast of burden with the air of a grandee. |
b. transf. and
gen. A person of high rank or position, or of eminence in any line.
| 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. xvi. §3. 59 The cutting off and keeping low of the Nobilitie and Grandes. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. Democr. to Rdr. (1651) 35 In a great person..a right honorable Grandy, tis not a venial sin. 1648–9 C. Walker Relat. & Observ. 1 The said Leading men or Grandees (for that is now Parliament language) First divided themselves into two factions. a 1661 B. Holyday Persius (1673) 339 Tertullian..a Grande in learning. 1664 H. More Myst. Iniq. 435 The Pope and Cardinals and other Grandees of that Church. 1691 Wood Ath. Oxon. II. 582 He was offer'd by one of the Grandees of the H. of Commons to keep all that he had. 1726 Amherst Terræ Fil. xiii. 62 Their footmen, who are the next grandees of the university. 1776 Adam Smith W.N. i. xi. (1869) I. 216 The retinue of a grandee in China or Hindostan. 1847 Emerson Repr. Men, Goethe Wks. (Bohn) I. 393 These grandees of European scientific history. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xviii. IV. 134 This commercial grandee, who in wealth, and in the influence which attends wealth vied with the greatest nobles of his time. 1863 Geo. Eliot Romola ii. vi, Quite a typical Florentine grandee. |
| appositive. 1652 Benlowes Theoph. x. iii. 179 No grandee patron court I. |
† c. fig. applied to things.
| 1621 Laud Serm. 24 Mar. (1622) 37 Three Grandies are met together; Blessing, Ioy, and Hope. 1686 Goad Celest. Bodies ii. iv. 194 The Planet Mars..hath been reckoned one of the Grandees in Aetherial Regions. 1827 H. Heugh Jrnl. in Macgill Life (1852) x. 292 Ben Nevis..the monarch among the mountain grandees of Scotland. |
Hence
granˈdeeism nonce-wd.| 1850 S. G. Osborne Gleanings 238 Landed grandeeism is all very well in its way. 1885 Spectator 13 June 775 Mr. Bartley's justification of himself is from end to end an attack on ‘grandeeism’. |