protectorship
(prəʊˈtɛktəʃɪp)
[See -ship.]
1. The office of Protector of the realm: = protectorate n. 1; also, with possessive pronoun, as title of a protector.
| c 1460 Brut 523 Þe Duke of Yorke was sent fore to Grenewiche, & þer was dischargied of þe protectorshipp. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, ii. i. 30 Glost. As who, my Lord? Suff. Why, as you, my Lord, An't like your Lordly Lords Protectorship. 1659 England's Conf. 3 The most probable competitor for succession in the Protectorship. 1738 Neal Hist. Purit. IV. 150 Cromwell's Protectorship was built only upon the authority of the Council of Officers. 1847 Nat. Encycl. I. 971 Under the ‘protectorship’ of the Khedive. |
2. The position, character, or function of a protector; guardianship, patronage.
| 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 12 The loue of good men, obteined through his behauiour in the protectourship of the people. 1670 G. H. Hist. Cardinals ii. i. 105 Those Kings bestow not those Protectorships upon the Cardinals to receive, but to confer honour upon them. 1792 M. Wollstonecraft Rights Wom. vii. 282 Not the libidinous mockery of gallantry, nor the insolent condescension of protectorship. 1807 Robinson Archæol. Græca i. xii. 51 Minerva, contending with Neptune for the protectorship of Athens. 1864 Bryce Holy Rom. Emp. xx. (1889) 346 Napoleon found that the protectorship of the Church strengthened his position in France. |