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Webster 1913 Edition

Tyrant

Tyr′ant

(tī′rant)
,
Noun.
[OE.
tirant
,
tiraunt
,
tyraunt
, OF.
tiran
,
tirant
(probably from confusion with the p. pr. of verbs), F.
tyran
, L.
tyrannus
, Gr.
τύραννος
, originally, an absolute sovereign, but afterwards, a severe or cruel ruler.]
1.
An absolute ruler; a sovereign unrestrained by law or constitution; a usurper of sovereignty.
☞ Free governments [in Greece] having superseded the old hereditary sovereignties (
βασιλεῖαι
), all who obtained absolute power in a state were called
τύραννοι
, tyrants, or rather despots; – for the term rather regards the irregular way in which the power was gained, whether force or fraud, than the way in which it was exercised, being applied to the mild Pisistratus, but not to the despotic kings of Persia. However, the word soon came to imply reproach, and was then used like our tyrant.
Liddell & Scott.
2.
Specifically, a monarch, or other ruler or master, who uses power to oppress his subjects; a person who exercises unlawful authority, or lawful authority in an unlawful manner; one who by taxation, injustice, or cruel punishment, or the demand of unreasonable services, imposes burdens and hardships on those under his control, which law and humanity do not authorize, or which the purposes of government do not require; a cruel master; an oppressor.
“This false tyrant, this Nero.”
Chaucer.
Love, to a yielding heart, is a king, but to a resisting, is a
tyrant
.
Sir P. Sidney.
3.
(Zool.)
Any one of numerous species of American clamatorial birds belonging to the family
Tyrannidae
; – called also
tyrant bird
.
☞ These birds are noted for their irritability and pugnacity, and for the courage with which they attack rapacious birds far exceeding them in size and strength. They are mostly plain-colored birds, but often have a bright-colored crown patch. A few species, as the scissorstail, are handsomely colored. The kingbird and pewee are familiar examples.
Tyrant flycatcher
(Zool.)
,
any one of numerous species of tyrants which have a flattened bill, toothed at the tip, and resemble the true flycatchers in habits. The Acadian flycatcher (
Empidonax Acadicus
) and the vermilion flycatcher (
Pyrocephalus rubineus
) are examples.
–
Tyrant shrike
(Zool.)
,
any one of numerous species of American tyrants of the genus
Tyrannus
having a strong toothed bill and resembling the shrikes in habits. The kingbird is an example.

Ty′rant

,
Verb.
I.
To act like a tyrant; to play the tyrant; be to tyrannical.
[Obs.]
Fuller.

Webster 1828 Edition

Tyrant

TY'RANT

,
Noun.
[L. tyrannus.]

Definition 2024

tyrant

tyrant

English

Wikispecies

Noun

tyrant ‎(plural tyrants)

  1. (historical, ancient Greece) A usurper; one who gains power and rules extralegally, distinguished from kings elevated by election or succession.
    • c. 1330, Robert Mannyng, Chronicle, 51:
      A bastard no kyngdom suld hald Bot if þat he it wan... Of tirant or of Sarazin.
    • c. 1374, Geoffrey Chaucer translating Boëthius, De consolatione philosophiæ, III v 59:
      A tyraunt þat was kyng of sysile.
    • c. 1595, William Shakespeare, The third Part of Henry the Sixt, with the death of the Duke of York, III iii 71:
      To proue him Tyrant, this reason may suffice, That Henry liueth still.
    • 1980, Michel Austin & al., Economic and Social History of Ancient Greece, 142:
      The reappearance of tyranny [in the 4th century BC] had many reasons... one of the main causes was the development of antagonism between rich and poor; tyrants came to power exploiting a social and political imbalance within the state.
    • 1996, Roger Boesche, Theories of Tyranny, from Plato to Arendt, 4:
      Ancient Greek tyrannies appeared once more in great numbers with the breakdown of the polis in the period from the fourth to the second centuries [BC]. These later tyrannies tended to rely on a more narrow class base and to use a brutal military rule, and thus writers could use the words tyrant and tyranny, with their modern connotations of evil and cruelty, to describe them accurately.
  2. (obsolete) Any monarch or governor.
  3. A despot; a ruler who governs unjustly, cruelly, or harshly.
    • 1297, Robert of Gloucester, Chronicle, 7689:
      To hom þat wolde is wille do debonere he was & milde & to hom þat wiþsede strong tirant & wilde.
    • c. 1471, John Fortescue, Works, 453:
      Whan a Kyng rulith his Realme onely to his own profytt, and not to the good of his Subgetts, he ys a Tyraunte.
    • 1587, Philip Sidney and Arthur Golding, A woorke concerning the trewnesse of the christian religion, translating Philippe De Mornay, XII 196:
      Tyrannes...be but Gods scourges which he will cast into the fyre when he hath done with them.
    • c. 1599, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar, V iv 5:
      I am the Sonne of Marcus Cato, hoe.
      A Foe to Tyrants, and my Countries Friend.
    • 1888, James Bryce, The American Commonweath, I iv 42:
      They [viz., the Framers of the American Constitution] held England to be the freest and best-governed country in the world, but were resolved to avoid the weak points which had enabled King George III. to play the tyrant, and which rendered English liberty, as they thought, far inferior to that which the constitutions of their own States secured.
  4. (by extension) Any person who abuses the power of position or office to treat others unjustly, cruelly, or harshly.
  5. (by extension) A villain; a person or thing who uses strength or violence to treat others unjustly, cruelly, or harshly.
  6. The tyrant birds, members of the family Tyrannidae, which often fight or drive off other birds which approach their nests.
    • 1731, Mark Catesby, The natural history of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands, I 55:
      The Tyrant... The courage of this little Bird is singular.
    • c. 1841, Swainson, Penny Cyclopaedia, XXI 415 2:
      The lesser tyrants (Tyrannulae) are spread over the whole of America, where they represent the true flycatcher... The tyrants are bold and quarrelsome birds, particularly during the season of incubation.
    • 1895, Alfred Newton, A Dictionary of Birds:
      Tyrant or Tyrant-bird, Catesby applied it solely to...the King-bird..., but apparently as much in reference to its bright crown...as to its tyrannical behaviour to other birds.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Adjective

tyrant

  1. (uncommon) Tyrannical, tyrannous; like, characteristic of, or in the manner of a tyrant.
    • 1297, Robert of Gloucester, Chronicles, 8005:
      Milce nas þer mid him [King William] non...Ac as a tirant tormentor in speche & ek in dede.
    • c. 1530, John Rastell, Pastyme of People
      He was most tirant & cruell of all emperours.
    • c. 1600, William Shakespeare, As you Like it, I ii 278:
      Thus must I from the smoake into the smother,
      From tyrant Duke, vnto a tyrant Brother.
    • 1775, Abigail Adams, letter in Familiar Letters of John Adams and his wife Abigail Adams, during the Revolution (1876), 124:
      ...a reconciliation between our no longer parent state, but tyrant state, and these colonies.

Verb

tyrant ‎(third-person singular simple present tyrants, present participle tyranting, simple past and past participle tyranted)

  1. (obsolete) To act like a tyrant; to be tyrannical.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Fuller to this entry?)

Middle English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowing from Old French.

Noun

tyrant (plural tyrants)

  1. tyrant

References

  1. ↑ Oxford English Dictionary. "Tyrant, n."

Etymology

From Middle English tyrant and tyrante, from Old French tyrant, from the addition of a terminal -t to tiran (cp. French tyran) via a back-formation related to the development of French present participles out of the Latin -ans form, from Latin tyrannus ‎(“despot”), from Ancient Greek τύραννος ‎(túrannos, “usurper, monarch, despot”),[1] of uncertain origin.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈtaɪɹənt/

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