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A province or territorial division of a kingdom, under the rule of a nomarch, as in modern Greece; a nome.

A form of government in which the supreme power is placed in the hands of a few persons; also, those who form the ruling few. All oligarchies, wherein a few men domineer, do what they list. Burton.

Government by a pope; papal rule.

The jurisdiction of a patriarch; patriarchship. Brerewood.

A government in the hands of five persons; five joint rulers. P. Fletcher. "The pentarchy of the senses." A. Brewer.

The office of a phylarch; government of a class or tribe.

Plutocracy; the rule of wealth. [R.]

See Polyarchy.

A government by many persons, of whatever order or class. Cudworth.

The gentlemen, or gentry, of a country, collectively. [Written also squirearchy.]

Consisting of starch; resembling starch; stiff; precise.

Joint rule or sovereignity. [R.] Stackhouse.

The district under a Roman tetrarch; the office or jurisdiction of a tetrarch; a tetrarchate.

Government by God; divine sovereignty; theocracy.

A small state, consisting of a few cities or towns; a petty country governed by a toparch; as, Judea was formerly divided into ten toparchies. Fuller.

Government by three persons; a triumvirate; also, a country under three rulers. Holland.

The office duty of a trierarch.

Government by Whigs. [Cont] Swift.

or dignity. Though a king may abdicate for his own person, he cannot abdicate for the monarchy. Burke.

ation or condition; uncontrolled; unrestricted; unconditional; as, absolute authority, monarchy, sovereignty, an absolute promise or command; absolute power; an absolute monarch.