Empire

See empire.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɛmpaɪə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɛmpaɪɚ/

Empire (not comparable)

1. (fashion, furniture, art) Following or imitating a style popular during the First French Empire (1804–1814).
   • 1997, Mark McGrail, Furniture Brasses: A Short History of English Furniture Fittings, Armac Brassworks, →ISBN, page 21:

     However, the first style of this century was known as Empire furniture. It was a derivative of the French Empire furniture, popular at that time.

   1. (of a woman's dress) Having the waistline just below the bust; featuring an empire waist.
      • 1920, Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence, New York: Random House, OCLC 56994481, page 17:

        ...and for a moment he could not identify the lady in the Empire dress, nor imagine why her presence created such excitement among the initiated.

2. (Britain, dated, of wine) Produced in a dependency of the British Empire or Commonwealth of Nations.
   • 1966, Richard Stone; D.A. Rowe, The Measurement of Consumers' Expenditure and Behaviour in the United Kingdom, 1920-1938, volume 1, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, OCLC 17633380, page 179:

     Wine from Portugal and France showed an irregular downward tendency over the period, while Empire wine from Australia and British South Africa rose rapidly, the former increasing nearly threefold between 1925 and 1927.

Empire

1. Alternative letter-case form of empire, used in proper names of nations.

• E-Prime, epimer, permie, premie