empress
See also: Empress
English
Etymology 1
From Middle English emperice, emperesse, from Anglo-Norman and Old French empereriz, from Latin imperatrix, equivalent to emperor + -ess. Doublet of imperatrix. Compare modern French impératrice.
Alternative forms
- emperess, empresse (obsolete)
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈɛmpɹəs/
Audio (US) (file)
Noun
empress (plural empresses)
- The female monarch (ruler) of an empire.
- c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], part 1, 2nd edition, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, OCLC 932920499; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene iii:
- Sit downe by her: adorned with my Crowne,
As if thou wert the Empreſſe of the world.
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- The wife or widow of an emperor or equated ruler.
- 2008 Encyclopedia of Barbarian Europe: Society in Transformation page 211
- Empress, imperial regent, and even emperor herself (r. 797–802), Irene was an important and powerful figure at the Byzantine court in the late eighth and early ninth century.
- 2008 Encyclopedia of Barbarian Europe: Society in Transformation page 211
- (tarot) The third trump or major arcana card of most tarot decks.
- (rare) A female chimpanzee.
- A deciduous tree, Paulownia tomentosa
Derived terms
- empress cloth
- empress dowager
- empress regnant
Translations
female monarch of an empire
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wife or widow of an emperor
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third trump or major arcana
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Etymology 2
From Middle English empresse, from Anglo-Norman enpresser (“to press, to imprint”), from Old French empresser. Attested from the 15th or late 14th century.[1]
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɪmˈpɹɛs/
- Rhymes: -ɛs
Verb
empress (third-person singular simple present empresses, present participle empressing, simple past and past participle empressed)
- Rare form of impress.
References
- “empress, v.”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2014.