Also 6 Sc. -atie, supperioritie. [a. OF. superiorite (= It. superiorità, Sp. -idad, Pg. -idade) or ad. their source, med.L. superiōritās: see SUPERIOR and -ITY.] The quality or condition of being superior.
† 1. Superior rank, dignity or official status; superior or supreme command; position or authority as a superior. Const. of, over. Obs.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 48 b. None shold be so hardy … to coueyte superiorite, or to commaunde obedyence.
1561. T. Norton, Calvin’s Inst., IV. xx. (1634), 744. That there bee made prayers … for Kings and for all that be set in superiority.
1577. Holinshed, Chron., II. 580/2. Kyng Iohn hadde resigned the superioritie of hys Kyngdome … vnto the Pope.
1617. Moryson, Itin., I. 5. Luneburg … is one of the free Imperiall Cities; but the Duke of Luneburg challengeth a superiority ouer it.
1633. Sir J. Burroughs, Sov. Brit. Seas (1651), 6. Such is his … indubitable right to the Superiority of the Seas of England.
1662. Winstanley, Loy. Martyrol. (1665), 103. [Cromwell] having … attained to the Superiority over the Three Kingdomes.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 39, ¶ 1. Superiority is there given in Proportion to Men’s Advancement in Wisdom and Learning.
† b. pl. Prerogatives of a superior; superior ranks. Obs.
1558–9. Act 1 Eliz., c. 1 § 1. Thauncient Jurisdiccions Aucthoritees Superiorities and Preheminencies.
1581. Lambarde, Eiren., I. x. (1588), 61. I doe utterly renounce … all foraine jurisdiction, powers, superiorities and authorities.
1660. H. More, Myst. Godl., V. xvii. 204. Without changing any Temporal Powers and Superiorities.
1705. Hickeringill, Priest-cr., II. iv. 40. They … strive to monopolize … the highest Dignities, Superiorities and Authorities.
† c. transf. The superior or ruling class, those in authority. Obs. rare.
1542. Boorde, Dyetary, xii. (1870), 263. A general commaundment hath ben sent from the superyoryte to the commonalte.
† d. A community governed by one who has the title of ‘superior.’ Obs. rare.
1721. Strype, Eccl. Mem., II. II. xxi. 413. The duchy of Milan,… the superiority of Flanders … the kingdom of Navarre.
e. The position or office of superior of a religious community, superiorship. rare.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Superiority,… a being Superiour in a Monastery.
1777. W. Dalrymple, Trav. Sp. & Port., 112. To exchange the superiority of Alcantara for the archbishopric of Seville.
2. Feudal Law. The position or right of the superior (see SUPERIOR B. 3) of an estate; the lordship of an estate.
a. 1572. Knox, Hist. Ref., Wks. 1846, I. 427. The Laird of Restalrig,… to quhome the superioratie of Leyth appertenit.
1628. Sc. Acts Chas. I. (1870), V. 189. Superiorities and Teinds.
1678. G. Mackenzie, Crim. Laws Scot., II. xi. § 3 (1699), 202. No Lands … but such as belong to him, in whose favours that Jurisdiction was granted, either in Property, or Superiority.
1746. Bp. Sherlock, Lett., 10 June, in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. I. 292. The North Britains are so attached to the usages of their country, so fond of the superiorities, [etc.].
1759. Robertson, Hist. Scot., III. (1851), I. 237. His superiorities and jurisdictions extended over many of the northern counties.
a. 1768. Erskine, Inst. Law Scot., II. iv. § 11 (1773), 212. The superior must lose all the casualties of superiority.
1805. Forsyth, Beauties Scot., I. 122. The superiority of the Canongate,… and barony of Broughton, were vested in the Earl of Roxburgh. The Town-Council of Edinburgh purchased these superiorities from the earl.
1828–43. Tytler, Hist. Scot. (1864), I. 33. John Comyn, lord of Badenoch,… acknowledged the superiority of Edward.
1868. Act 31 & 32 Vict., c. 101 § 104. The person having right to the superiority of any lands.
1883. F. H. Groome, Ordn. Gaz. Scot., IV. 402/1. Under the superiority of the Baillies of Dochfour, Kingussie is a police burgh.
b. Such a position or right as conferring franchise: see quots. Sc.
1846. M’Culloch, Acc. Brit. Empire (1854), II. 212. These fictitious votes, or ‘superiorities,’ as they were called, soon became matter of traffic,… about half these freeholders possessed merely the superiority—the parchment franchise—without having any right to an acre of the ground!
1861. May, Const. Hist. (1863), I. vi. 300. The county franchise [in Scotland] consisted in ‘superiorities,’ which were bought and sold in the market.
3. The condition of being stronger than or prevailing over another; supremacy. Obs. exc. const. to in sense of SUPERIOR a. 6 b.
1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VI., 171. Studyeng … how to … get the superioritie and ouerhand aboue their euilwillers.
1553. Respublica, III. v. 823. Avar. And howe dyd all frame with our Mounsire Authorytee? Oppr. Att length he wonne the full superiorytee.
1607. (title) Lingva: Or The Combat of the Tongue, And the fiue Senses For Superiority.
1611. Coryat, Crudities, 171. These two streetes doe seeme to contend for the superiority, but the first … is the fairest of them.
1653. R. Sanders, Physiogn., 119. The Table line prenotes fidelity, and superiority over enemies.
1770. Langhorne, Plutarch, VI. 130 (Artaxerxes). They lost their superiority in Greece by the ill-fought battle of Leuctra.
a. 1831. A. Knox, Rem. (1844), I. 72. His … obvious superiority to the world and the flesh.
4. The quality or condition of being higher, greater or better in some respect, or of having some attribute in a higher degree, than something else. Const. to, over, above.
1694. Luttrell, Brief Rel. (1857), III. 335. Captain Keggins,… said to have differed with the Dutch about superiority of command.
1707. Addison, Pres. St. War, Wks. 1766, III. 257. Our superiority to the enemy in numbers of men and horse.
1736. Butler, Anal., I. iii. Wks. 1874, I. 64. Rational animals have not necessarily the superiority over irrational ones.
1765. Museum Rust., IV. 88. Hence appears the great superiority of the hoeing culture.
1794. Mrs. Radcliffe, Myst. Udolpho, xii. Signor Montoni had an air of conscious superiority animated by spirit and strengthened by talents.
1856. Emerson, Eng. Traits, Aristocracy, Wks. (Bohn), II. 77. All nobility in its beginnings was somebody’s natural superiority.
1883. Miss M. Betham-Edwards, Disarmed, i. He tries to crush me with his superiority. But I am his match with the tongue.
b. With a and pl. An instance of this.
a. 1704. T. Brown, Eng. Sat., Wks. 1727, I. 26. Horace and Juvenal … challenge with justice a superiority above all the rest.
1755. Young, Centaur, iii. Wks. 1757, IV. 168. Splendid superiorities cannot be neutral, with regard to the characters of those who possess them.
1839. G. P. R. James, Louis XIV., III. 247. That nation … made vast efforts to obtain a superiority at sea.
1865. M. Arnold, Ess. Crit., vi. 188. A land where every one has some culture and where superiorities are discountenanced.
