Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Imperial

Im·pe′ri·al (ĭm·pē′rĭ·al), a. [OE. emperial, OF. emperial, F. impérial, 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.

The last That wore the imperial diadem of Rome. Shak.

2. Belonging to, or suitable to, supreme authority, or one who wields it; royal; sovereign; supreme. "The imperial democracy of Athens." Mitford.

Who, as Ulysses says, opinion crowns With an imperial voice. Shak.

To tame the proud, the fetter'd slave to free, These are imperial arts, and worthy thee. Dryden.

He sounds his imperial clarion along the whole line of battle. E. Everett.

3. Of superior or unusual size or excellence; as, imperial paper; imperial tea, etc.

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. (Zoöl.) 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.

Im·pe′ri·al, n. [F. impériale: cf. Sp. imperial.]

1. The tuft of hair on a man's lower lip and chin; — so called from the style of beard of Napoleon III.

2. An outside seat on a diligence. T. Hughes.

3. A luggage case on the top of a coach. Simmonds.

4. Anything of unusual size or excellence, as a large decanter, a kind of large photograph, a large sheet of drawing, printing, or writing paper, etc.

5. A gold coin of Russia worth ten rubles, or about eight dollars. McElrath.

6. A kind of fine cloth brought into England from Greece. or other Eastern countries, in the Middle Ages.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.