from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Imperial \Im*pe"ri*al\, a. [OE. emperial, OF. emperial, F.
imp['e]rial, fr. L. imperialis, fr. imperium command,
sovereignty, empire. See {Empire}.]
1. Of or pertaining to an empire, or to an emperor; as, an
imperial government; imperial authority or edict.
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The last
That wore the imperial diadem of Rome. --Shak.
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2. Belonging to, or suitable to, supreme authority, or one
who wields it; royal; sovereign; supreme. "The imperial
democracy of Athens." --Mitford.
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Who, as Ulysses says, opinion crowns
With an imperial voice. --Shak.
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To tame the proud, the fetter'd slave to free,
These are imperial arts, and worthy thee. --Dryden.
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He sounds his imperial clarion along the whole line
of battle. --E. Everett.
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3. Of superior or unusual size or excellence; as, imperial
paper; imperial tea, etc.
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{Imperial bushel}, {gallon}, etc. See {Bushel}, {Gallon},
etc.
{Imperial chamber}, the, the sovereign court of the old
German empire.
{Imperial city}, under the first German empire, a city having
no head but the emperor.
{Imperial diet}, an assembly of all the states of the German
empire.
{Imperial drill}. (Manuf.) See under 8th {Drill}.
{Imperial eagle}. (Zool.) See {Eagle}.
{Imperial green}. See {Paris green}, under {Green}.
{Imperial guard}, the royal guard instituted by Napoleon I.
{Imperial weights and measures}, the standards legalized by
the British Parliament.
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