Also 3–4 laverd. [f. LORD sb.]
1. intr. † a. To exercise lordship, have dominion.
a. 1300. E. E. Psalter cii[i]. 19. Laverd in heven graiþed sete his, And his rike til alle sal Laverd [Vulg. dominabitur] in blis.
1489. Caxton, Faytes of A., I. i. 8. Metridates whiche lorded vpon xxiiij. contrees.
b. To play the lord; to behave in a lordly manner, assume airs of grandeur; to rule tyrannically, domineer. Now rare exc. const. over.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. X. 84. Þe more he … lordeth in londes þe lasse good he deleth.
1548. Latimer, Ploughers (Arb.), 24. For they [the Apostles] preached and lorded not. And nowe they lorde and preache not.
1579. Spenser, Sheph. Cal., Dec., 70. The grieslie Tode-stoole groune there mought I se, And loathed Paddocks lording on the same. Ibid. (1594), Amoretti, x. She lordeth in licentious blisse Of her freewill.
1633. P. Fletcher, Elisa, II. vii. Her … sister … Alicia, in whose face Love proudly lorded.
1641. Milton, Ch. Govt., vi. Wks. 1851, III. 124. The hatefull thirst of Lording in the Church … first bestow’d a being upon Prelaty. Ibid. (1671), Samson, 265. They had by this … lorded over them whom now they serve.
1685. Dryden, trans. Lucretius, III. 242. That haughty King, who lorded ore the Main,… Him Death, a greater Monarch, overcame.
1777. Burke, Address King, Wks. 1842, II. 402. Much less are we desirous of lording over our brethren.
1833. Chalmers, Const. Man (1835), I. iii. 156. Its unhappy patient is lorded over by a power of moral evil.
1871. B. Taylor, Faust (1875), I. xiv. 151. Methinks, instead of in the forest lording, The noble Sir should [etc.].
1881. Blackmore, Christowell, xxxi. I am not one to be lorded over by a man no better than myself.
c. So To lord it, chiefly with over.
1579. Spenser, Sheph. Cal., July, 176. They … lord it as they list.
1593. Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., IV. viii. 44. I see them Lording it in London streets.
1638. Penit. Conf., vii. (1657), 145. Lording it over the Consciences of the people.
a. 1704. T. Brown, Praise Drunkenness, Wks. 1730, I. 37. She [drunkenness] lords it over Poland, Sweden and Norway.
a. 1716. South, Serm. (1823), V. 409. Though reason and judgment would veil to Christ, yet the man does not, because his affections lord it.
1775. Mad. D’Arblay, Lett., Nov., in Early Diary. He disdains submitting to the great or Lording it over the little.
1820. W. Irving, Sketch Bk., Rip Van Winkle, ¶ 1. The Kaatskill mountains … are seen … swelling up to a noble height and lording it over the surrounding country.
1855. Tyndall, in Lett. Educ., 192. We lord it over Matter, and in so doing have become better acquainted with the laws of Mind.
1900. Q. Rev., Oct., 337. This barbarian … lorded it over many waters from the Canaries to Candia.
2. trans. To be or act as lord of; to control, manage, rule. rare.
c. 1586. C’tess Pembroke, Ps. LXXVIII. xxii. [Their] heritage he shared to the race … of godly Israell, To lord their lands. Ibid., CVI. xv. [God] Left them to be … Lorded by foes.
1691. J. Wilson, Belphegor, I. ii. Simple Merit Lords few Mens Horoscope.
1807. J. Barlow, Columb., V. 660. Austria’s titled hordes, with their own gore, Fat the fair fields they lorded long before.
1818. Keats, Endym., II. 894. The look Of his white palace … And all the revels he had lorded there.
3. † a. To make (a man) a lord or master. b. To confer the title of lord upon; to ennoble.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter xviii. 14. If þai ware noght lordid of me [Mistransl.: L. si mei non fuerunt dominati].
1610. Shaks., Temp., I. ii. 97. He being thus Lorded, did beleeue He was indeed the Duke.
1643. Wither, Campo Musæ, 69. Ev’ry one of those That hath for any services, beene Lorded.
1720. Humor. Lett. Lond. Jrnl. (1721), 16. Thou shalt be told … Who gets an Estate in the Alley, and is afterward Knighted or Lorded.
1787. Minor, 307. Sir Cadwallader Pleadwell … has been lately Lorded.
1889. Furnivall, in Pall Mall Gaz., 14 Dec., 1/3. It was with no little pleasure then that I found Lord Tennyson (before he was lorded) making me known to Mr. Robert Browning.
c. To address or speak of as ‘Lord.’
1636. Rutherford, Lett., lx. (1862), I. 161. My newly printed book against Arminians was one challenge: not lording the prelates was another.
1656. S. H., Golden Law, 92. Is not Sarah commended for obeying, and lording her husband?
1660. Charac. Italy, 56. Before they merit the degree of Knighthood, they must be Lorded.
