domination
(dɒmɪˈneɪʃən)
[a. F. domination (12th c.), f. L. dominātiōn-em, n. of action f. dominārī to dominate.]
1. The action of dominating; the exercise of ruling power; lordly rule, sway, or control; ascendancy. † b. A lordship or sovereignty (obs.).
| c 1386 Chaucer Pard. Prol. & T. 232 In whom þat drynke hath dominacion, He kan no conseil kepe. 1483 Caxton Cato A viij b, The kynges and prynces haue domynacions and lordshippes. 1490 ― Eneydos i. 13 Pryam was subdued and putte vnder the sharpe domynacyon of the grekes. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. ii. ix. 43 Gave unto him..the Lordship and domination over thys yle. 1654 tr. Scudery's Curia Pol. 86 The people found themselves happy under his domination. 1880 G. Duff in 19th Cent. No. 38. 666 To keep up the horrible Turkish domination in Armenia. |
† c. Predominance, prevalence. Obs.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 3 A myxture of syluer and golde..wherin y⊇ syluer hath dominacion. 1563 W. Fulke Meteors (1640) 63 Upon the mixtion of these colours, or chiefe domination of them, all things have their colour. |
† 2. The territory under rule; a dominion. Obs.
| c 1440 J. Capgrave Life St. Kath. iv. 265 In what parti he dwelled of his domynacyon. 1535 Act 27 Hen. VIII, c. 26. §1 His subiectes of his saide dominacion of Wales. 1654 tr. Scudery's Curia Pol. 68 The Romans advanced not their names, nor inlarged their Dominations but by Conquests. |
3. pl. The fourth of the nine orders of angels in the Dionysian hierachy; a conventional representation of these in art. Cf. dominion 4, and see note s.v. cherub.
| [1388 Wyclif Eph. i. 21 Ech principat, and potestat, and vertu, and domynacioun [so Tindale, Geneva, Rhem.].] 1398 Trevisa Barth De P.R. ii. xii. (1495) 38 The fourth ordre is Domynacyones. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems x. 9 Archangellis, angellis, and dompnationis, Tronis, potestatis, and marteiris seir. 1667 Milton P.L. v. 601 Hear all ye Angels..Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Vertues, Powers. 1847 Ld. Lindsay Chr. Art I. 134 A ‘throne’, for instance, is seated on a throne; a ‘domination’ holds the balance. |