IMPERIAL

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does imperial mean? 

• IMPERIAL (noun)
  The noun IMPERIAL has 2 senses:

1. a small tufted beard worn by Emperor Napoleon III

2. a piece of luggage carried on top of a coach

  Familiarity information: IMPERIAL used as a noun is rare.

• IMPERIAL (adjective)
  The adjective IMPERIAL has 4 senses:

1. relating to or associated with an empire

2. of or belonging to the British Imperial System of weights and measures

3. befitting or belonging to an emperor or empress

4. belonging to or befitting a supreme ruler

  Familiarity information: IMPERIAL used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• IMPERIAL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A small tufted beard worn by Emperor Napoleon III

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Synonyms:

imperial; imperial beard

Hypernyms ("imperial" is a kind of...):

beard; face fungus; whiskers (the hair growing on the lower part of a man's face)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A piece of luggage carried on top of a coach

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("imperial" is a kind of...):

baggage; luggage (cases used to carry belongings when traveling)

• IMPERIAL (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Relating to or associated with an empire

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Context example:

the imperial gallon was standardized legally throughout the British Empire

Pertainym:

empire (a monarchy with an emperor as head of state)

Derivation:

empire (a monarchy with an emperor as head of state)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Of or belonging to the British Imperial System of weights and measures

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Pertainym:

British Imperial System (a system of weights and measures based on the foot and pound and second and pint)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Befitting or belonging to an emperor or empress

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Context example:

imperial palace

Pertainym:

emperor (the male ruler of an empire)

Derivation:

empire (the domain ruled by an emperor or empress; the region over which imperial dominion is exercised)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Belonging to or befitting a supreme ruler

Synonyms:

imperial; majestic; purple; regal; royal

Context example:

the royal carriage of a stag's head

Similar:

noble (of or belonging to or constituting the hereditary aristocracy especially as derived from feudal times)

Derivation:

emperor (the male ruler of an empire)

 Context examples 

His imperial majesty spoke often to me, and I returned answers: but neither of us could understand a syllable.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

A crimson velvet robe, and a shawl turban of some gold-wrought Indian fabric, invested her (I suppose she thought) with a truly imperial dignity.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I've seen the imperial family several times, the emperor an ugly, hard-looking man, the empress pale and pretty, but dressed in bad taste, I thought—purple dress, green hat, and yellow gloves.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

In the bottle the acids were long ago resolved; the imperial dye had softened with time, as the colour grows richer in stained windows; and the glow of hot autumn afternoons on hillside vineyards, was ready to be set free and to disperse the fogs of London.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The abrupt sides of vast mountains were before me; the icy wall of the glacier overhung me; a few shattered pines were scattered around; and the solemn silence of this glorious presence-chamber of imperial Nature was broken only by the brawling waves or the fall of some vast fragment, the thunder sound of the avalanche or the cracking, reverberated along the mountains, of the accumulated ice, which, through the silent working of immutable laws, was ever and anon rent and torn, as if it had been but a plaything in their hands.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

At landing, I showed the custom-house officers my letter from the king of Luggnagg to his imperial majesty.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

After some time, when they observed that I made no more demands for meat, there appeared before me a person of high rank from his imperial majesty.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

This open bold declaration of mine was so opposite to the schemes and politics of his imperial majesty, that he could never forgive me.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Her imperial majesty was pleased to smile very graciously upon me, and gave me out of the window her hand to kiss.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

I heard the word Burglum repeated incessantly: several of the emperor’s court, making their way through the crowd, entreated me to come immediately to the palace, where her imperial majesty’s apartment was on fire, by the carelessness of a maid of honour, who fell asleep while she was reading a romance.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)