▪ I. oligarch, n.
(ˈɒlɪgɑːk)
[ad. Gr. ὀλιγάρχ-ης, f. ὀλίγ-ος few + ἄρχ-ειν to rule. Cf. mod.L. oligarcha, mod.F. oligarque (19th c. in Littré).]
A member of an oligarchy; one of a few holding power in a state.
| a 1610 Healey Theophrastus (1636) 89 Olygarches, or principal men in a state, have these conditions. 1821 Byron Two Foscari ii. i, Groan'd under the stern oligarchs. 1849 Grote Greece ii. xliii. V. 287 He established the oligarchs in that town as citizens and sold the Demos as slaves. 1868 Spectator 14 Nov. 1333 In mediæval Hungary, the central power of the Crown had to contend with that of the great territorial oligarchs. |
▪ II. oligarch, a. Bot.
(ˈɒlɪgɑːk)
[mod. f. Gr. ὀλίγ-ος few + ἀρχή origin.]
Proceeding from few points of origin, said of the primary xylem (or wood) of the root.
| 1884 Bower & Scott De Bary's Phaner. 353 In almost all Dicotyledons where the point has been investigated, the original bundle of the root is oligarch, usually with 2, 3, or 4 rays, more rarely with 6 or 8. Ibid. 387 Nearly related plants..show the usual behaviour of oligarch roots. |