Rome, n.
(rəʊm)
Also 4 Rom, 5–6 Roome, 6 Room.
[a. OF. Rome:—L. Rōma.
The pron. (ruːm), indicated by the old spelling Room(e and by the rime with doom, etc., was retained by some educated speakers as late as the 19th cent.]
1. a. The city or state of Rome; the Roman empire. Freq. in personified use.
| c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. xxvii. §1 Se Catulus wæs heretoᵹa on Rome. 971 Blickl. Hom. 191 Ic wille gangan to Rome. c 1205 Lay. 5986 Brennes walde Rome fulle fiftene ȝere. a 1300 Cursor M. 22241 All kingrikes þat rome was vnder Fra lauerdhed o rome þam sundre. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 3460 Þyse wer gon to Lumbardye To procure Rome more partye. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. v. xi. 3534 Þe Saxonys..Agane Rome rasse wiþe mekyl mycht. 1490 Caxton Eneydos lxv. 166 The historyes of the romayns, and of theym that founded roome. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 248 b, One of the olde souldyours of Roome. 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. i. i. 82 These that Suruiue, let Rome reward with Loue. 1624 Quarles Job Militant x. xxix, Who, that did e're behold the ancient Rome, Would rashly give her Glorie such a doome? 1671 Milton P.R. iv. 80 All Nations now to Rome obedience pay. 1741–2 Gray Agrippa 17 The willing homage Of prostrate Rome. 1780 Cowper Boadicea 17 Rome..Tramples on a thousand states. 1820 Byron Mar. Fal. v. i, A wife's dishonour unking'd Rome for ever. 1841 Arnold Lect. Mod. Hist. (1860) 29 Rome..has been the source of law and government. |
b. In proverbs.
| (a) 1545 R. Taverner tr. Erasmus's Adages sig. D 1v Ye may use this prouerbe when ye wyll signyfye that one daye..is not ynoughe for..acheuynge..a greate matter..Rome was not buylt in one daye. 1562 Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 168 Roome was not bylt on one day. 1705 Hickeringill Priest-cr. iv. (1721) 214. 1776 A. Adams Fam. Lett. (1876) 202 But Rome was not built in a day. 1822 Scott Nigel II. x. 237 Rome was not built in a day—you cannot become used to your court-suit in a month's time. 1849 C. Brontë Shirley I. v. 123 ‘As Rome,’ it was suggested, ‘had not been built in a day, so neither had mademoiselle Gérard Moore's education been completed in a week.’ 1873 ‘F. Fern’ Memorial Vol. 347 Rome wasn't built in a day;—cooks can't be manufactured in a minute. 1901 S. Lane-Poole Sir H. Parkes xvii. 316 The Japanese..went too fast and fell into grave commercial, monetary, and administrative troubles. Neither Rome nor New Japan could be built in a day. 1941 P. Cheyney Trap for Bellamy iv. 58 Bellamy said: ‘Life is what you make it. Rome wasn't built in a day.’ 1950 T. Williams Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone i. 34 Patience, said the Contessa. Rome was not built in a day! |
| (b) 1599 Porter Angry Wom. Abingdon (Percy Soc.) 50 Ile do as company dooth; for when a man doth to Rome come, he must do as there is done. 1670 G. H. tr. Hist. Cardinals i. i. 5 Whilst one is at Rome, one must live as they do there. 1817 Byron Beppo ix, And you at Rome would do as Romans do, According to the proverb. 1863 W. C. Baldwin Afr. Hunting vii. 267, I always do in Rome as Rome does, eat (if I can) whatever is set before me. 1976 N. Thornburg Cutter & Bone i. 22 ‘When in Rome,’ he said finally, shuddering. 1977 Rolling Stone 21 Apr. 73/3 He had a point—when in Rome and all that—but it was a point he was not exactly loath to make. |
| (c) 1721 Kelly Sc. Prov. 194 It is hard to sit in Rome, and strive against the Pope. |
| (d) c 1380 Chaucer Troylus (1894) ii. 36 For every wight which that to Rome went, Halt nat o path, or alwey o manere. c 1391 ― Astrol. (1872) Prol. 29 Ryht as diuerse pathes leden diuerse folk the rihte wey to Rome. 1806 R. Thomson tr. La Fontaine's Fables IV. xii. xxiv. 110 Three pious men, having one end in view, Their way to heaven with equal zeal pursue.—Three diff'rent roads the three concurrents chose, All roads alike conduct to Rome... —So those Thought they might part, and yet get on secure. 1861 C. Reade Cloister & Hearth I. xxiv. 270 All roads take to Rome. 1872 W. Black Strange Adv. Phaeton vi. 111 ‘Surely the road to Oxford is easy to find.’ ‘It is,’ I say to her. ‘For you know all roads lead to Rome, and they say that Oxford is half-way to Rome—argal—.’ But knowing what effect this reference to her theological sympathies was likely to have on Tita, I thought it prudent to send the horses on. 1911 J. A. Thomson Introd. Sci. iii. 63 All roads lead to Rome, and he must be a bold man who will declare any of Nature's beckonings to be unworthy of attention. 1912 J. S. Huxley Individual in Animal Kingdom vi. 154 All roads lead to Rome: and even animal individuality throws a ray on human problems. |
c. Applied to Constantinople, the capital of the eastern Roman empire.
| 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1638) 13 Yet haue the Sarasins attempted both Romes: they haue besieged Constantinople, and haue wasted..the sea coasts of Italy. |
2. The city of Rome as the original capital of Western Christendom, and the seat of the Pope; hence, the Roman Catholic Church, its influence or institutions, etc.
| c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 263 How falsely freris feyneþ ȝifte of þis tresore to ech pope of Rome. Ibid. 281 Dispensacion of þe Bischop of Rome. c 1400 Apol. Loll. (Camden) 12 In þe court of Rome mai no man geyt no grace, but if it be bowt. Ibid., Þe kirk of Rome. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. vi. xiii. 1096 Þe auchtande Bennet tuk þe se Off Rome as pape. 1537 Starkey Let. in England p. xlvii, The wych you perauenture wyl impute to thys defectyon from Rome. 1595 Shakes. John v. ii. 70 King Iohn hath reconcil'd Him⁓selfe to Rome. 1654 Bramhall in Ussher's Lett. (1686) 612 Your selves have preached so much against Rome, and his Holiness, that Rome and her Romanists will be little the better for that Change. 1749 Gray Installat. Ode 47 The majestic lord, That broke the bonds of Rome. 1791 Boswell Johnson (Oxf. ed.) II. 548 He argued in defence of some of the peculiar tenets of the Church of Rome. 1840 Newman in Apol. iii. (1904) 70/1 Rome, though not deferring to the Fathers, recognizes them. 1892 J. M. Stone Faithful unto Death vi. 119 It was also thought that many clergymen hesitated to marry,..in case of a reconciliation with Rome. |
| transf. 1821–2 Shelley Chas. I, i. 58 That is the Archbishop... Rather say the Pope: London will be soon his Rome. 1899 Daily News 26 June 7/2 An imposing demonstration, in honour of Calvin, has just been held in the City of Geneva, which he raised to the proud position of ‘the Rome of Protestantism’. |
3. Comb. † a. Appositive, etc., as
Rome-burgh,
Rome city,
Rome gate,
Rome land,
Rome-lede,
Rome riche,
Rome street,
Rome-thede,
Rome-ware.
| c 893 K. ælfred Oros. ii. iii. 68 æfter þæm þe *Rome⁓burᵹ ᵹetimbred wæs. c 1200 Ormin 7010 Þurrh þe king off Romeburrh. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace 12665 Ȝow were wel bettere at Rome burgh, Þan reyse baner a-geyn Arthurgh. |
| 1606 Holland Sueton. Annot. 31 Vpon which day, the foundation of *Rome Citie was laid. |
| 1553 Wilson Rhet. 48 As farre as hence to *Rome gates. |
| 1390 Gower Conf. Prol. 715 Cesar Julius, which tho was king of *Rome lond. |
| c 1205 Lay. 7187 Swa þat *Romleode comen to þissen þeoden. |
| c 1200 Ormin 8305 Fra þatt Þatt he bigann to rixlenn I *Rome riche. |
| 13.. Seuyn Sag. 1687 (W.), Thourgh *Rome stretes. |
| c 1205 Lay. 9046 Kinbelin..weorede *Rome-þeode wið vncuðe leode. |
| c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. xxvii. §1 Hit wæs ða swiðe micel sido mid *Romwarum. c 1205 Lay. 7936 Laðliche heo foehten & Rom-ware feollen. |
b. Objective, etc., as
Rome-believer,
Rome-bred, etc.
| 1792 G. Galloway Poems 40 Pit [= put] sandals on, Or bare⁓foot scud like Rome-believers. 1802–12 Bentham Ration. Judic. Evid. (1827) IV. 147 Such also has been the general practice under Rome-bred law on the continent of Europe. 1846 G. S. Faber Lett. Tractar. Secess. 68 He has told us, that..a real Papist lay concealed beneath an outwardly professing and Rome-vituperating Anglican. |
c. Special
Comb.:
Rome–Berlin axis [
axis1 4 b], the association formed in 1936 between Fascist Italy and National Socialist Germany.
| 1936 [see axis1 4 b]. 1938 E. Ambler Cause for Alarm viii. 128 The Rome–Berlin axis is one of the most effective principles of European power-politics that has ever been stated. 1939 ‘G. Orwell’ Coming up for Air iii. i. 182 Rubber truncheons, Rome-Berlin axis, Popular Front. 1976 S. Hynes Auden Generation vii. 193, 1936 is the peripeteia, the point where the action turned:..the Rome-Berlin Axis was formed [etc.]. |