▪ I. empress, n.1
(ˈɛmprɪs)
Forms: 2–4 emperice, 3–8 emperess(e, 4 (amperesse), emperis(e, -isse, empiresse, 5 emprice, -ise, 5–7 empresse, 7– empress. Also 4–5 imperes, -ice.
[ME. emperesse, a. OF. emperesse, fem. of emperere emperor (late L. type *imperatorissa). OF. had also empereriz, -is, = Pr. emperairitz, Sp. emperatriz:—L. imperātrīcem, and various mixed forms, as emperice, amperice, some of which occur in ME.]
1. The consort of an emperor. Also, a female sovereign having the rank equivalent to that of an emperor.
| 1154 O.E. Chron. an. 1140 Þe hæfde ben Emperice. 1297 R. Glouc. (1725) 440 He louede hyr, vor heo was eyr & hey emperesse. Ibid. 474 The nexte ȝer ther after the Amperesse Mold Wende out of this liue. c 1350 Will. Palerne 5343 And Melion..was crouned emperice. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. vii. (1520) 79 b/1 Wyllyam..helde warre agaynst Maude the empresse. 1559 Bp. Scot in Strype Ann. Ref. I. ii. App. vii. 417 The emperesse Theodora that then was. 1704 Addison Italy (1733) 236 Among the Emperesses. a 1745 Swift Wks. (1768) IV. 301 The earl of Chester..commanded there for the empress. 1836 Penny Cycl. V. 132/2 Napoleon..crowned his wife as empress. 1888 Times No. 32,573. 7/4 The Queen and the Empress Frederick were compelled to delay their departure from the Royal borough. Mod. In 1876 Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India. |
2. A female potentate exercising supreme or absolute power. Chiefly transf. and fig.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 20801 Of heuen and erth..scho es quene, Bath imperice and heind leuedi. c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. (1868) 109 For felonie is emperisse and flowreþ ful of rycchesse. c 1460 Towneley Myst. 171 Thi moder is of helle emprise. 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. ii. iii. 40 Harke Tamora, the Empresse of my Soule. 1634 Habington Castara 30 The pale-faced Empresse of the night Lent in her chaste increase her borrowed light. 1682 Dryden Mac Fl. 87 Now Empress Fame had publisht the renown Of Shadwells coronation. 1797 Mrs. Radcliffe Italian xii, Who..seemed the empress of the scene. 1832 Blackw. Mag. Feb. 353/1 The British capital has been called..the empress of all cities. 1844 Kinglake Eöthen v. (1878) 73 Yonder empress throned at the window of that humblest mud cottage. |
3. Comb. a. appositive.
| a 1661 B. Holyday Juvenal 93 Before his bed she chose a mat that stunk, And wore a night-hood too, an empress⁓punk! 1705 in Lond. Gaz. No. 4156/1 The Earl of Sunderland..had Audience..of the Empress-Dowager. 1711 Ibid. 4875/2 His Excellency deliver'd her Majesty's Credentials to the Empress-Regent. |
b. empress-cloth: a woollen fabric differing from merino chiefly in not being twilled. (App. not known as a trade term in England.)
| 1884 in Knight Amer. Mech. Dict.; and in later Dicts. |
▪ II. † ˈempress, n.2 Obs.
Forms: 6 emprese, 7 empresse, empressa. See also impress n.2, impresa.
[A var. of impress n.2, ad. It. impresa of same meaning. The form with em- may be ad. the equivalent Sp. empresa, and is therefore treated separately.]
A motto or significant device; see impress n.2 Also attrib.
| 1593 Nashe Christ's T. 19 b, Let..this for an Emprese be engrauen. 1603 Drayton Baron's Wars vi. 43 Emblems, Empressas, Hirogliphiques. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. i. 287 A blew garter, carrying this Empresse..Hony soit qui Mal y pense. 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 146/2 Emblem or Empress work is drawing Faces from the Life. |
▪ III. † emˈpress, v. Obs.
Forms: 4 enprece, -presse, 4–5 empresse. See also impress v.
[a. OF. empresse-r, emprecier, f. en- (see en-) + presser to press.]
trans. and absol. To subject to pressure, press, oppress. Also intr. to crowd, press eagerly into.
| c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. C. 43 And þere as pouert enpresses, þaȝ mon pyne þynk. Ibid. 528 Pouerte me enprecez & paynez innoȝe. c 1386 Chaucer Can. Yeom. Prol. & T. 518 Such feendly thoughtes in his hert empresse. c 1400 Rom. Rose 3691 No man..ne may..of the reisins have the wyne Til grapes..Be sore empressid. 1475 Bk. Noblesse 4 Every man in hym silf let the passions of dolours be..empressid into vyfnes. |