'Imperial weights and measures' definitions:

Definition of 'Imperial weights and measures'

From: GCIDE
  • Imperial \Im*pe"ri*al\, a. [OE. emperial, OF. emperial, F. imp['e]rial, fr. L. imperialis, fr. imperium command, sovereignty, empire. See Empire.]
  • 1. Of or pertaining to an empire, or to an emperor; as, an imperial government; imperial authority or edict. [1913 Webster]
  • The last That wore the imperial diadem of Rome. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. Belonging to, or suitable to, supreme authority, or one who wields it; royal; sovereign; supreme. "The imperial democracy of Athens." --Mitford. [1913 Webster]
  • Who, as Ulysses says, opinion crowns With an imperial voice. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • To tame the proud, the fetter'd slave to free, These are imperial arts, and worthy thee. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
  • He sounds his imperial clarion along the whole line of battle. --E. Everett. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. Of superior or unusual size or excellence; as, imperial paper; imperial tea, etc. [1913 Webster]
  • Imperial bushel, gallon, etc. See Bushel, Gallon, etc.
  • Imperial chamber, the, the sovereign court of the old German empire.
  • Imperial city, under the first German empire, a city having no head but the emperor.
  • Imperial diet, an assembly of all the states of the German empire.
  • Imperial drill. (Manuf.) See under 8th Drill.
  • Imperial eagle. (Zool.) See Eagle.
  • Imperial green. See Paris green, under Green.
  • Imperial guard, the royal guard instituted by Napoleon I.
  • Imperial weights and measures, the standards legalized by the British Parliament. [1913 Webster]