realm
(rɛlm)
Forms: α. 3–5 reaume, 4 reeaum, reawme. β. 4 reome, 4–5 reem(e, regm(e, 4–6 rem(e, reame, 5 reyme, reiem, reamme, Sc. reime, 6 ream. γ. 4–5 reum(e, 4–6 rewm(e. δ. 4–8 realme, 4– realm.
[a. OF. reaume, realme, reialme = Prov. re-, reyalme, OSp. rea(l)me, It. reame:—pop.L. *rēgālimen, f. L. rēgālis regal, royal: see also rialm and royalme.
The earliest form adopted in Eng. was reaume, which subsequently appears also in the reduced forms reame or reme and reume. The more etymological spelling realm appears somewhat later, and did not finally become the standard form till about 1600.]
1. A kingdom. Now chiefly rhet., and in such phrases as ‘Statutes of the Realm’.
| α c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 114/276 Þare nas Man In engelond þat hadde so gret power Of þe reaume ase seint thomas. c 1350 Will. Palerne 135 Þat he ne schuld wiȝtli in þis world neuer weld reaume. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VIII. 87 Þe kyng committed þe destourbance of þe reawme to þe bisshop of Durham. 1470–85 Malory Arthur i. viii, It was a grete shame..to see suche a boye to haue a rule of soo noble a reaume. |
| β c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 1642 (Kölbing) Þou hast made flem Þe riȝt aires out of þe rem. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. ix. 99 To beo kyng..And rule þe reame. c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 4 Sovereign lord and noble Kyng, ȝe be welcome oute of ȝoure reame of Fraunce, into this blissed reme of Englond. 1483 Caxton G. de la Tour G iv, God..sent to hym and to his reame many euyles. 1575 Laneham Let. (1871) 3 Born both indeed within the Ream heer, but yet of the race of Saxons. 1590 Spenser F.Q. iii. v. 53 And to your willes both royalties and reames Subdew. |
| γ 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 4033 Rewme ogayne rewme..sal ryse. 1382 Wyclif Matt. iv. 8 The deuel..shewide to hym alle the rewmys of the world. 1417 K. Henry V in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. iii. I. 62 How the said Duc Johan governeth him towardes us and oure Rewme of Englande. c 1475 Partenay 5552 That roiall rewine which in hand [ye] hold, And þat ye gouerne now. 1562 A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) i. 147 So lairdis vpliftis mennis leifing ouir thy rewme. |
| δ 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. i. 93 Kynges and knihtes scholde..Rihtfuliche Raymen þe Realmes a-bouten. 1390 Gower Conf. III. 86 Hou that a worthi king schal reule His Realme bothe in werre and pes. 1456 Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 11 His disciplis..convertit realmes and regionis. 1535 Coverdale Amos ix. 8 The eyes of the Lorde are vpon the realme that synneth. 1591 Spenser M. Hubberd 1185 Nobilitie,..The Realmes chiefe strength and girlond of the crowne. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 234 Wandring many a famous Realme And Country. 1705 Hearne Collect. 22 Nov. (O.H.S.) I. 92 The Duke of Argyle is to be created a Peer of this Realme. 1765–9 Blackstone Comm. (1793) 599 To the common law, and to their own by-laws, not contrary to the laws of the realm. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) V. 247 Persons who are out of the realm at the time when a fine is levied. 1871 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) IV. xvii. 99 His work in his island realm, instead of being ended, was hardly begun. |
| transf. 1733 Pope Ess. Man iii. 184 The ants Republic, and the Realm of bees. |
2. transf. and
fig. a. The kingdom of heaven, or of God.
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter xliv. 3 Þe reum of þe whilke is nane endynge. 1380 Lay Folks Catech. (Lamb. MS.) 94 The Reme of þis fadyr ys callyd Holy chyrche. c 1450 tr. De Imitatione ii. i. 39 Þe reume of god is pes & ioy in þe holi goste. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 7 In the whiche there be..many pleasures in many realmes, that we here shall neuer knowe. 1813 Shelley Q. Mab vi. 106 The avenging God! Who..sits High in heaven's realm. |
b. Any sphere or region. (Sometimes with suggestion of a ruling power.)
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. ii. pr. ii. 24 (Camb. MS.) Thou þat art put in the comune Realme of alle, ne desire nat to lyuen by thin oonly propre ryht. 1596 Spenser F.Q. iv. viii. 45 His soule descended downe into the Stygian reame. 1757 Gray Bard 72 Proudly riding o'er the azure realm In gallant trim. 1784 Cowper Task vi. 579 He that hunts Or harms them there..Disturbs the economy of Nature's realm. 1816 J. Wilson City of Plague i. ii. 309 The realms of Hell are gleaming fiery bright. 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits, Personal Wks. (Bohn) II. 132 New means were employed, and new realms added to the empire of the muse. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VI. 626 Loss of sensory and motor power in the realm of the nerve affected. 1924 W. B. Selbie Psychol. Relig. 80 Though the term unconscious is used very loosely by Freudians it generally means a ‘realm’ where various emotions which have from time to time been repressed, lie hidden. |
c. The sphere, domain, or province
of some quality, state, or other abstract conception.
| 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 133 Thir Legions..Scout farr and wide into the Realm of night. 1682 Dryden Mac-Fl. 6 In prose and verse..Through all the realms of Nonsense absolute. 1725 Young Love Fame vii. 62 A realm of death! and on this side the grave! 1781 Cowper Hope 651 The realms of Sin, where Riot reels. 1812 J. Wilson Isle of Palms i. 148 Lift thy queen-like diadem O'er these thy realms of rest. 1830 Tennyson Arab. Nts. 101 Thro' the garden I was drawn—A realm of pleasance. 1873 Hamerton Intell. Life x. ix. 385 The fairest realms of fancy. |
d. A primary zoogeographical division of the earth's surface.
| 1876 Wallace Distrib. Anim. I. 61 In an elaborate paper..(Bulletin of Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, vol. 2), Mr. J. A. Allen proposes a division of the earth..as follows: 1. Arctic realm..8. Australian realm. Ibid. 68 The following terms are proposed: realm, region, province, district..; the first being the highest, the last the lowest and smallest subdivision. 1895 Beddard Zoogeogr. 78 The fewness of the peculiar genera and their alliance with Australian forms seems to render it necessary to place the entire Polynesian realm within the Australian. |
3. attrib. and
Comb., as
† realm raiker,
† realm rape;
realm-bounding,
realm-destroying,
realm-o'ershadowing,
realm-sucking,
realm-unpeopling adjs.| 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) I. 472 The wide-extended ocean, the *realm-bounding mountains. |
| 1643 Prynne Sov. Power Parl. Ded. A iij, Their..*Realm-destroying, Church-subverting selfe-seeking. |
| 1810 Montgomery West Indies ii. 60 The dun gloom of *realm-o'ershadowing trees. |
| 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. v. 307 All *Realme raikaris to put furth of the land. |
| 1559 Mirr. Mag., Dk. Clarence xlix, For *realme rape spareth neither kin nor frend. |
| 1633 Costlie Whore v. i. in Bullen O. Pl. IV, These *realme-sucking slaves, That build their pallace upon poor mens graves. |
| 1777 Potter æschylus 495 He in *realm-unpeopling war Wasted not his subjects' blood. |
Hence
ˈrealmic a., of or belonging to a realm;
ˈrealmist, a supporter of the realm (in
quot. attrib.);
ˈrealmlet, a little realm.
| 1865 Intell. Observ. No. 38. 149 Individual, realmic, and epicosmic. 1883 Swinburne Les Casquettes xi, As flowers on the sea are her small green realmlets. 1895 Westm. Gaz. 4 Mar. 3/2 When petty party politics shall have been forgotten in the rise of a great Realmist League. |