Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Autonomy
1.
The power or right of self-government; self-government, or political independence, of a city or a state.
2.
(Metaph.)
The sovereignty of reason in the sphere of morals; or man’s power, as possessed of reason, to give law to himself. In this, according to Kant, consist the true nature and only possible proof of liberty.
Fleming.
Webster 1828 Edition
Autonomy
AUTON'OMY
,Noun.
This word is rarely used. It signifies the power or right of self government, whether in a city which elects its own magistrates and makes its own laws, or in an individual who lives according to his own will.