tyrant

Etymology

From Middle English tyraunt, tiraunt, tyrant, tyrante, from Old French tyrant, from the addition of a terminal -t to tiran (cp. French tyran) via a back-formation related to the development of French present participles out of the Latin -ans form, from Latin tyrannus (“despot”), from Ancient Greek τύραννος (túrannos, “usurper, monarch, despot”), of uncertain origin.

noun

1. (historical, Ancient Greece) A usurper; one who gains power and rules extralegally, distinguished from kings elevated by election or succession.
   The reappearance of tyranny [in the 4th century BC] had many reasons... one of the main causes was the development of antagonism between rich and poor; tyrants came to power exploiting a social and political imbalance within the state. 1980, Michel Austin et al., Economic and Social History of Ancient Greece, section 142
   Ancient Greek tyrannies appeared once more in great numbers with the breakdown of the polis in the period from the fourth to the second centuries [BC]. These later tyrannies tended to rely on a more narrow class base and to use a brutal military rule, and thus writers could use the words tyrant and tyranny, with their modern connotations of evil and cruelty, to describe them accurately. 1996, Roger Boesche, Theories of Tyranny, from Plato to Arendt, section 4
2. (obsolete) Any monarch or governor.
   Cassius... set tyrants over all Syria. 1737, William Whiston translating Josephus, History of the Jewish Wars, I xii §2
3. A despot; a ruler who governs unjustly, cruelly, or harshly.
   Tyrannes...be but Gods scourges which he will cast into the fyre when he hath done with them. 1587, Philip Sidney and Arthur Golding, A woorke concerning the trewnesse of the christian religion, translating Philippe De Mornay, XII 196
   Here is a Proclamation for a Prince: that proclaims him in whoſe name it is emitted James II of England], to be the greateſt Tyrant that ever lived in the world, and their Revolt who have diſowned him to be the juſteſt that ever was. 1744, Alexander Shiels [i.e., Alexander Shields], “Period VI. Containing the Testimony through the Continued Tract of the Present Deformation, from the Year 1660 to this Day.”, in A Hind Let Loose: Or, An Historical Representation of the Testimonies of the Church of Scotland, for the Interest of Christ; with the True State thereof in All Its Periods: …, Edinburgh: Reprinted by R. Drummond and Company, and sold by William Gray bookbinder in the Grassmarket, and several others, &c., →OCLC, pages 167–168
   They [[Unsupported titles/`lsqb`viz.#English|[viz.]], the Framers of the American Constitution] held England to be the freest and best-governed country in the world, but were resolved to avoid the weak points which had enabled King George III. to play the tyrant, and which rendered English liberty, as they thought, far inferior to that which the constitutions of their own States secured. 1888, James Bryce, The American Commonweath, I iv 42
4. (by extension) Any person who abuses the power of position or office to treat others unjustly, cruelly, or harshly.
   […] a sad tyrant, as my friends the Democrats sometimes are. 1817, Mary Mitford in Alfred L'Estrange, The life of Mary Russell Mitford (1870), II i 2
5. (by extension) A villain; a person or thing who uses strength or violence to treat others unjustly, cruelly, or harshly.
   A pike (called the tyranne of fishes). 1528, Thomas Paynell translating Arnaldus de Villa Nova in Joannes de Mediolano, Regimen Sanitatis Salerni
   Public opinion, the greatest tyrant of these times. 1847, A. Helps, Friends in Council, I viii 132
6. The tyrant birds, members of the family Tyrannidae, which often fight or drive off other birds which approach their nests.
   The Tyrant... The courage of this little Bird is singular. 1731, Mark Catesby, The natural history of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands, I 55
   The lesser tyrants (Tyrannulae) are spread over the whole of America, where they represent the true flycatcher... The tyrants are bold and quarrelsome birds, particularly during the season of incubation. c. 1841, Swainson, Penny Cyclopaedia, XXI 415 2
   Tyrant or Tyrant-bird, Catesby applied it solely to...the King-bird..., but apparently as much in reference to its bright crown...as to its tyrannical behaviour to other birds. 1895, Alfred Newton, A Dictionary of Birds

adj

1. (uncommon) Tyrannical, tyrannous; like, characteristic of, or in the manner of a tyrant.
   He was most tirant & cruell of all emperours. c. 1530, John Rastell, Pastyme of People
   ...a reconciliation between our no longer parent state, but tyrant state, and these colonies. 1775, Abigail Adams, letter in Familiar Letters of John Adams and his wife Abigail Adams, during the Revolution (1876), 124

verb

1. (intransitive, obsolete) To act like a tyrant; to be tyrannical.
   Let thy judgment be king, but not tyrant over it a. 1661, Thomas Fuller, Of Fancy
2. (transitive, obsolete) To tyrannize.