Now rare or Obs. [Formed as prec.: see -ENCY.] = prec.
In quot. 1866–7 with possessive as a fictitious title of rank.
1585–7. T. Rogers, 39 Art., xxxvi. (1625), 197. The degrees of Ecclesiasticall supereminencie.
1631. Gouge, God’s Arrows, III. § 62. 301. Records … which by an excellency and supereminency [cf. EMINENCE 8 c] are called Scriptures.
1638. Sir T. Herbert, Trav. (ed. 2), 191. The supereminency of the hill.
a. 1682. Sir T. Browne, Tracts, i. (1684), 31. A kind of Sceptre in their hands, denoting their supereminencies.
1691. Norris, Pract. Disc., 223. The ὐπεροχὴ or supereminency of the Divine Nature.
1726. Ayliffe, Parergon, 95. The Archbishop of Canterbury, as he is Primate over all England … has a Super-eminency … over the Archbishop of York.
1866–7. Baring-Gould, Cur. Myths Mid. Ages, Prester John (1894), 45. The palace in which our Supereminency [sc. Prester John] resides.
