(em′pīr) noun
1. A state, or union of states, governed by an emperor.
2. A union of dispersed territories, dominions, colonies, states, and unrelated peoples under one sovereign rule.
3. Wide and supreme dominion.
—Holy Roman Empire Certain portions of the old Roman Empire of the West together with the Frankish possessions of Charlemagne, who was crowned emperor by Pope Leo III at Rome in 800. In 962 the real Holy Roman–German Empire began. It became extinct in 1806, when Francis II resigned the elective imperial crown for the hereditary one of Austria. [<F <L imperium rule, authority]

(em′pīr) adjective
1. Of, belonging to, or characterizing an empire, especially the French Empire, 1804–15, under Napoleon I.
2. Designating a simple and dignified type of furniture introduced at the time of the first French Empire by Percier, Fontaine, and others.
3. (also, Fr. ä·pēr′) Designating a type of woman's costume of the first French Empire, marked by high waistline, short décolleté bodice, and straight, loose skirt.