English

Verb

to lord it over ‎(third-person singular simple present lords it over, present participle lording it over, simple past and past participle lorded it over)

1. (idiomatic, transitive) To behave as if one is in control of; to make a display of having an advantage over or superiority to.
   • 1809, Washington Irving, Knickerbocker's History of New York, ch. 16:

     They were in a manner absolute despots in their little domains, lording it, if so disposed, over both law and gospel, and accountable to none but the mother-country.

   • 1839, Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist, ch. 53:

     Mr. and Mrs. Bumble, deprived of their situations, were gradually reduced to great indigence and misery, and finally became paupers in that very same workhouse in which they had once lorded it over others.

   • 1904, James M. Barrie, Peter Pan, ch. 4 :

     Peter was a little annoyed with them for knowing so much, but if he wanted to lord it over them his triumph was at hand.

   • 2011 April 28, Tristram Hunt, "How the Monarchy Allows Britannia to Make Waves," Time:

     The Delhi Durbar of 1911 saw King George V and Queen Mary bedecked in sapphires and rubies lording it over half a million Indian subjects.

Translations

See also

• put on airs

References

• lord it over at OneLook Dictionary Search