Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The body of optimates or aristocrats; the nobility.
- noun Government by the optimates; aristocracy.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun rare Government by the nobility.
- noun rare Collectively, the nobility.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun
government by thenobility - noun the
nobility , collectively - noun a most favourable condition or state
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Compare French optimatie. See optimate.
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Examples
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But if the client accused his patron, gave testimony or suffrage against him, it was a crime of such a nature that any man might lawfully kill him as a traitor; and this, as being the nerve of the optimacy, was a great cause of ruin to that commonwealth; for when the people would carry anything that pleased not the Senate, the senators were ill provided if they could not intercede-that is, oppose it by their clients; with whom, to vote otherwise than they pleased, was the highest crime.
The Commonwealth of Oceana James Harrington 1644
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