■ noun
1》 an extensive group of states ruled over by a single monarch, an oligarchy, or a sovereign state.
↘supreme power over several countries: his dream of ~ in Asia Minor.
2》 a large commercial organization under the control of one person or group.
■ adjective ( Empire ) denoting a neoclassical style of furniture and dress fashionable chiefly during the First Empire, the period of Napoleon I's reign as emperor of the French (1804–15).
Origin
ME: via OFr. from L. imperium , related to imperare (see emperor ).