despot

****************************************************************
Need more than just one Word of the Day? Bring them all home
with the Eleventh Edition of our Collegiate Dictionary!
http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/book.pl?c11.htm&1
****************************************************************

The Word of the Day for February 26 is: 

despot   \DESS-putt\   noun 
     1 a : a Byzantine emperor or prince  b : a bishop or 
patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church  c : an Italian 
hereditary prince or military leader during the Renaissance
     2 a : a ruler with absolute power and authority  *b : a 
person exercising power tyrannically 

Example sentence: 
     "Her spoilt younger sister, Phoebe, is a lip-glossed 
despot, able to command ... attention with a flick of her 
pretty head." (Lisa Allardice, _The Daily Telegraph_ [London], 
March 22, 2003) 

Did you know?
     In his 1755 dictionary, Samuel Johnson said 
of "despot," "the word is not in use, except as applied to some 
Dacian prince; as the despot of Servia." Indeed at that time, 
the word was mainly used to identify some very specific rulers 
or religious officials, and the title was an honorable one (it 
comes from a Greek word meaning "lord" or "master" and was 
originally applied to deities). That situation changed toward 
the end of the century, perhaps because French Revolutionists, 
who were said to have been "very liberal in conferring this 
title," considered all sovereigns to be tyrannical. When 
democracy became all the rage, "despot" came to be used most 
often for any ruler who wielded absolute and often contemptuous 
and oppressive power.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.