Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A high officer in a Muslim government, especially in the Ottoman Empire.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A councilor of state; a high executive officer in Turkey and other Oriental countries.
  • noun the chief minister of the Turkish empire; -- called also vizier-azem.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A high-ranking official or minister in an Islamic government, especially in the Ottoman Empire.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a high official in a Muslim government (especially in the Ottoman Empire)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Turkish vezir, from Arabic wazīr, burdened, minister, from ’āzara, to help, derived form of ’azara, to surround; see ℵzr in Semitic roots, or from wazara, to carry a burden; see wzr in Semitic roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Turkish vezir (plausibly via French visir, vizir or Spanish visir), from Arabic وزير (wazīr, "helper, aide, minister"), "one who bears (the burden of office)".

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Examples

  • The leading passion of the vizier was the love of receiving presents.

    The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan James Morier

  • The establishment of a vizier is a fundamental law of despotism.

    The World's Greatest Books — Volume 14 — Philosophy and Economics Various 1910

  • In the reign of Meneptah of the nineteenth dynasty the vizier was a native of Bashan, Ben-Mazana by name, whose father was called Yu the elder.

    Patriarchal Palestine 1889

  • He took around with him on his rambles his vizier, Giafar (a vizier is a composite of a chauffeur, a secretary of state, and a night-and-day bank), and old Uncle Mesrour, his executioner, who toted a snickersnee.

    Roads of Destiny O. Henry 1886

  • Elkanah that was next to the king -- that is, the vizier or prime minister (Ge 41: 40; Es 10: 3).

    Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible 1871

  • The two tusks depicted on 1000 year old (and older) Islamic chess pieces of the "vizier," "farzin" or "wazir" evolved into the Bishop's mitre (in Western chess) as the Arabic version of chess spread into Europe and was adopted by the European royal courts.

    Goddess Kamkhaya Jan 2008

  • The two tusks depicted on 1000 year old (and older) Islamic chess pieces of the "vizier," "farzin" or "wazir" evolved into the Bishop's mitre (in Western chess) as the Arabic version of chess spread into Europe and was adopted by the European royal courts.

    Archive 2008-06-01 Jan 2008

  • "if your slave may be so honoured as to speak in your presence, a vizier should be a person of great tact; he should be able to draw the line as nicely as I do when I shave your sublime head, leaving not a vestige of the hair, yet entering not upon the skin."

    The Pacha of Many Tales Frederick Marryat 1820

  • "if your slave may be so honoured as to speak in your presence, a vizier should be a person of great tact; he should be able to draw the line as nicely as I do when I shave your sublime head, leaving not a vestige of the hair, yet entering not upon the skin."

    The Pacha of Many Tales Frederick Marryat 1820

  • He also spoke of him by his title of "vizier," which he declared he had never forfeited the right to use; and he also stated that he had only entered Epirus as a peace-maker.

    Celebrated Crimes (Complete) Alexandre Dumas p��re 1836

Comments

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  • “One of Dyson’s daughters, the Internet vizier Esther Dyson, says her father raised her without a television so she would read more, and has always been ‘just as interested in talking to’ the latest graduate student to make the pilgrimage to Princeton ‘as he is the famous person at the next table.’�?

    The New York Times, The Civil Heretic, by Nicholas Dawidoff, March 25, 2009

    March 26, 2009