dominion
(dəʊˈmɪnjən)
[a. obs. F. dominion (in Godef.), ad. L. type *dominiōn-em, deriv. of domini-um property, ownership f. domin-us lord.]
1. The power or right of governing and controlling; sovereign authority; lordship, sovereignty; rule, sway; control, influence.
| c 1430 Lydg. Thebes ii. (R.), To haue lordship, or dominioun, In the bounds of this little toun. 1494 Fabyan Chron. i. vi. 12 She gaue ouer y⊇ rule and domynion to hym. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 29 These Moguls..got the Dominion of these Countries. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 500 ¶2 Nothing is more gratifying to the mind of man than power or dominion. 1867 Freeman N.C. (1876) I. iv. 215 Foreign dominion in any shape would soon become hateful. |
| fig. 1538 Starkey England i. ii. 61 Fortune..hath grete domynyon and rule in al vtward thyngys. 1582 N. T. (Rhem.) Rom. vi. 9 Death shal no more haue dominion [Wycl. lordschip, Tindale, etc. power] ouer him. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 184 ¶7 Exempting them from the dominion of chance. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 179 For ages physicians have been under the dominion of prejudices. |
2. a. The lands or domains of a feudal lord.
b. The territory owned by or subject to a king or ruler, or under a particular government or control. Esp. a country outside England or Great Britain under the sovereignty of or owing allegiance to the English or British crown;
spec. † (
a)
pl. the English possessions in America;
† (
b) the principality of Wales; (
c) (
Hist.) any of the larger self-governing nations in the British Commonwealth; also
attrib. Often in
pl. Dominion of Canada (
colloq. ‘
the Dominion’), the title under which the former colonial provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, etc., in British North America, were united into one government in 1867.
the Old Dominion (also
the Ancient Dominion), a popular name in
U.S. for Virginia.
| 1512 Act 4 Henry VIII, c. 10 The Domynyons Honours Castelles Parkes..that late were to Edwarde Courteney. 1548 Hall Chron., Henry VI (an. 14) 130 The whole dominion of Fraunce, betwene the rivers of Soame and Marne. 1605 Shakes. Lear i. i. 180 If..Thy banisht trunke be found in our Dominions, The moment is thy death. 1606 First Charter Virginia in H. W. Preston Doc. Illustr. Amer. Hist. (1886) 9 The said several Colonies and Plantations,..they being of any Realms, or Dominions under our Obedience. 1623–4 Act 21 Jac. I c. 3 Within this Realme or the Dominion of Wales. 1682 Acts of Assembly Virginia (1727) I. 142 His Majesty's Subjects, being in this his Majesty's Dominion of Virginia. 1700 Act 11 & 12 Will. III c. 12 §1 Commanders in Chief of Plantations and Colonies within his Majesties Dominions beyond the Seas. Ibid. c. 19 §7 Any Prisons..belonging to any County of this Realm, or the Dominions of Wales. 1705 F. Makemie Persuasive (Dedication), To..Her Majestys Governor of the Ancient Dominion of Virginia. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 21 The King of Spain had allowed the king of France's subjects a free trade in his American dominions. 1778 Cal. Virginia State Papers (1875) I. 311, I should not see the old Dominion this winter. 1789 W. Maclay Deb. Senate (1880) 14 The member from the ancient dominion. 1832 J. P. Kennedy Swallow B. (1860) 13, I have really reached the Old Dominion. 1840 Macaulay Ess., Clive (1887) 529 The wide dominion of the Franks was severed into a thousand pieces. 1850 W. H. Foote Sk. Virginia 393 The Smiths came to Virginia to commence log colleges in the ‘Ancient Dominion’. 1867 Act 30 & 31 Vict. c. 3. §3 The Provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick shall form and be One Dominion under the Name of Canada. 1901 London Gaz. 4 Nov., The following addition shall be made to the Style and Titles at present appertaining to the Imperial Crown of the United Kingdom and its Dependencies;..after the words ‘of the United Kingdom of Great Britian and Ireland’, these words, ‘and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas’. 1907 Times 1 Mar. 10/2 They had found themselves in complete agreement with the Premiers and Ministers of Defence of the King's Dominions across the seas. Ibid. 22 Apr. 14/2 The Prime Ministers of the self-governing Dominions. 1910 A. H. Forbes (title) History of the British Dominions beyond the Seas (1558–1910). 1912 A. B. Keith Respons. Govt. in Domin. III. 1313 Since the Colonial Conference of 1907 Dominion is a technical term for the self-governing Colonies. 1922 Daily Mail Year Bk. 1923 84/1 The terms..offered to Ireland the full dominion status of Canada. 1931 Act 22 Geo. V c. 4 §1 In this Act the expression ‘Dominion’ means any of the following Dominions, that is to say, the Dominion of Canada, the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominion of New Zealand, the Union of South Africa, the Irish Free State and Newfoundland. 1949 Newsweek 1 Aug. 15/1 This constituted ‘outside interference’ in the affairs of the Old Dominion. 1952 Times 21 Feb. 3/1 The words ‘British Dominions beyond the Seas’ had disappeared from the Proclamations in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand... At the same time Canada had substituted ‘Canada’ for ‘Dominion of Canada’. 1953 Times 8 Dec. 9/2 Her Majesty will visit three of the seven fully sovereign nations—it is significant that their only generic title of ‘Dominion’ is already obsolescent—which make up in the narrower sense the oversea Commonwealth. 1959 Times 18 Apr. 7/3 The Labour Party pamphlet suggested that they should be offered ‘Dominion Status’. That is to say, they should become independent, but should be able by the act of self-determination to re-enter the Commonwealth. |
| fig. 1654 Whitlock Zootomia 414 The Dominions of Pen-men are of far larger extent than those of Sword-men. 1821 Shelley Prometh. Unb. ii. v. 86 Thy spirit lifts its pinions In music's most serene dominions. |
3. a. Law. Ownership, property; right of possession. [
= dominium in
Rom. Law.]
| 1651 Hobbes Leviath. i. xvi. 81 The Right of possession, is called Dominion. 1682 W. Evats Grotius' War & Peace 78 We must search into the rise or beginning of propriety, which Lawyers call Dominion. 1738 Eminent Dominion [see eminent 5]. 1774 T. Jefferson Autobiog. Wks. 1859 I. 138 Our Saxon ancestors held their lands..in absolute dominion, unencumbered with any superior. 1832 Austin Jurispr. (1879) I. 50. 1885 Law Times 28 Mar. 386/1 Negligent dealing with goods by a bailee, which does not amount to the assertion of any dominion over them. |
† b. fig. Power or right.
nonce-use.
Obs.| a 1797 H. Walpole Mem. Geo. II (1847) II. viii. 257 The King, during the whole conversation, seemed to leave open his dominion of saying or unsaying hereafter. |
4. = domination 3. (Usually in
pl.)
| [1539 Bible (Great) Eph. i. 21 Aboue all rule, and power, and might and domynion [Tinsdale dominacion]. 1611 Bible Col. i. 16 All things created..visible and inuisible, whether they be thrones or dominions [Vulg. dominationes, LXX κυριότητες], or principalities, or powers.] 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 11 Powers and Dominions, Deities of Heav'n. a 1711 Ken Hymnotheo Poet. Wks. 1721 III. 200 Dominions for supream Commands decreed. |
5. attrib., as
Dominion act.
Dominion day, in the Dominion of Canada, the 1st of July, observed as a general holiday in commemoration of the union of the provinces, etc., under that name in 1867.
| 1877 Daily News 3 Nov. 6/6 In violation of the Dominion Act regarding the importation of cattle from prohibited countries. 1892 W. Pike Barren Ground N. Canada 167 The loyal Canadians..were..celebrating the anniversary of Dominion Day, with much rye whisky. |
Hence
† doˈminion v., to exercise dominion, to rule;
doˈminionless a., having no dominion.
| 1647 Pol. Ballads (1860) I. 35 We shall have..But few folks, and poor, to dominion o'er. 1845 Blackw. Mag. LVII. 523 Dominionless over our sympathy. |