From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Empire \Em"pire\, n. [F., fr. L. imperium a command,
sovereignty, dominion, empire, fr. imperare. See Emperor;
cf. Imperial.]
1. Supreme power; sovereignty; sway; dominion. "The empire of
the sea." --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
Over hell extend
His empire, and with iron scepter rule. --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
2. The dominion of an emperor; the territory or countries
under the jurisdiction and dominion of an emperor (rarely
of a king), usually of greater extent than a kingdom,
always comprising a variety in the nationality of, or the
forms of administration in, constituent and subordinate
portions; as, the Austrian empire.
[1913 Webster]
Empire carries with it the idea of a vast and
complicated government. --C. J. Smith.
[1913 Webster]
3. Any dominion; supreme control; governing influence; rule;
sway; as, the empire of mind or of reason. "Under the
empire of facts." --M. Arnold.
[1913 Webster]
Another force which, in the Middle Ages, shared with
chivalry the empire over the minds of men. --A. W.
Ward.
[1913 Webster]
Celestial empire. See under Celestial.
Empire City, a common designation of the city of New York.
Empire State, a common designation of the State of New
York.
Syn: Sway; dominion; rule; control; reign; sovereignty;
government; kingdom; realm; state.
[1913 Webster]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
empire
n 1: the domain ruled by an emperor or empress; the region over
which imperial dominion is exercised [syn: empire,
imperium]
2: a group of countries under a single authority; "the British
created a great empire"
3: a monarchy with an emperor as head of state
4: a group of diverse companies under common ownership and run
as a single organization [syn: conglomerate, empire]
5: an eating apple that somewhat resembles a McIntosh; used as
both an eating and a cooking apple
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008) [foldoc]:
empire
<games> Any of a family of military simulations derived from a
game written by Peter Langston many years ago. Five or six
multi-player variants of varying degrees of sophistication
exist, and one single-player version implemented for both
Unix and VMS; the latter is even available as MS-DOS
freeware. All are notoriously addictive.
[Jargon File]
(1995-08-06)
From Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003) [jargon]:
empire
n.
Any of a family of military simulations derived from a game written by
Peter Langston many years ago. A number of multi-player variants of
varying degrees of sophistication exist, and one single-player version
implemented for both Unix and VMS; the latter is even available as
MS-DOS/Windows freeware. All are notoriously addictive. Of various
commercial derivatives the best known is probably "Empire Deluxe" on
PCs and Amigas.
Modern empire is a real-time wargame played over the internet by up to
120 players. Typical games last from 24 hours (blitz) to a couple of
months (long term). The amount of sleep you can get while playing is a
function of the rate at which updates occur and the number of
co-rulers of your country. Empire server software is available for
Unix-like machines, and clients for Unix and other platforms. A
comprehensive history of the game is available at
http://www.empire.cx/infopages/History.html. The Empire resource site
is at http://www.empire.cx/.