Also 4–8 Cesar. [L. Cæsar, a proper name. This is generally held to be the earliest Latin word adopted in Teutonic, where it gave Gothic kaisar (cf. Gr. καῖσαρ), OS. kêsar, -er, OFris. kaiser, keiser, OHG. keisar, -er, OE. câsere, ON. keisari. But the OE. form of the word (which would have given in mod.Eng. coser—cf. pope) was lost in the ME. period. It was replaced in ME. by keiser, cayser, kaiser, from Norse and continental Teutonic, which has in its turn become obsolete, except as an alien term for the German emperor, and been replaced by the Latin or French form. See KASER, KAISER. Another form of the word is the Russian Tsar or CZAR.]
1. The cognomen of the Roman dictator Caius Julius Cæsar, transferred as a title to the emperors from Augustus down to Hadrian (B.C. 30 to A.D. 138), and subsequently used as a title of the heir-presumptive of the emperor. In modern use often applied to all the emperors down to the fall of Constantinople.
1382. Wyclif, John xix. 15. We han no kyng no but Cesar. [1388 We han no king but the emperour.]
1586. Ferne, Blaz. Gentrie, 150. Amongst the Romaines vntill the time of their Cæsars, it was a common vse.
1776–88. Gibbon, Decl. & F., xiii. (1875), 144. After the adoption of the two Cæsars, the emperors devolved on their adopted sons the defence of the Danube and of the Rhine. Ibid., lxviii. 1238. Mahomed the second performed the namaz of prayer and thanksgiving on the great altar, where the christian mysteries had so lately been celebrated before the last of the Cæsars.
1795. Southey, Joan of Arc, II. 337. Cæsars and Soldans, Emperors and Kings.
1869. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), III. xii. 91. The man before whom Cæsars as well as Pontiffs were to quail.
b. The emperor of the ‘Holy Roman Empire’; the German KAISER.
1674. Hickman, Hist. Quinquart. (ed. 2), 56–7. The very year before that Confession was presented to Cæsar there was a Colloquy betwixt the Lutherans and Zuinglians.
1704. Addr. Taworth, in Lond. Gaz., No. 4066/5. This … has rescued Germany from a Rebellious Incendiary; kept its Cæsar safe.
2. fig. or transf. An absolute monarch, an autocrat, emperor.
1593. Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., III. i. 18. No bending knee shall call thee Cæsar now. Ibid. (1594), Rich. III., IV. iv. 336. She shalbe sole Victoresse, Cæsars Cæsar.
1682. Sir T. Browne, Chr. Mor., 3. Lead thine own captivity captive, and be Cæsar within thy self.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 314. The servile Rout their careful Cæsar praise.
1859. Sala, Tw. round Clock (1861), 34. An Emperor will always be called Cæsar, and a dog ‘poor old fellow.’
b. contextually, The temporal monarch as the object of his subjects’ obedience (sometimes contrasted with the obedience due to God); the civil power. In allusion to Matt. xxii. 21.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Matt. xxii. 21. Aʓyfað þam Casere þa þing þe þæs Casyres synt.
c. 1160. Hatton G., ibid. Caysere—Cayseres.
1382. Wyclif, ibid. Ȝelde ȝee to Cesar the thingis that ben Cesaris, and to God the thingis that ben of God. Ibid. (1388). Ȝelde ȝe to the emperoure the thingis that ben the emperouris.]
1601. Bp. Barlow, Serm. Paules Crosse, 27. The things due from subjects to their Caesar.
1679. Penn, Addr. Prot., II. vi. (1692), 196. Cæsar, by which Word I understand the Civil Government, engrosseth All.
1714. J. Fortescue-Aland, Ded. Fortescue’s Abs. & Lim. Mon., 8. Impartially decides the rights of Caesar and his subject.
3. attrib. or in comb., e.g., Cæsar-like, -worship.
1599. Hakluyt, Voy., II. I. 295. The most mightie Cesarlike maiestie of the Grand Signor.
1663. Gerbier, Counsel, C viij b. Matchless Buckingham most Cæsar-like glorious.
1861. J. G. Sheppard, Fall Rome, xii. 624. Between Christianity and Cæsar-worship there could be no compromise.
