emprise

English

Alternative forms

• emprize

Etymology

Noun is from Middle English emprise, from Old French emprise, emprinse, from Late Latin *imprensa, from Latin in- + prehendere (“to take”). The verb is from emprisen, from the same source.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛmˈpɹaɪz/

Noun

emprise (plural emprises)

1. (archaic) An enterprise or endeavor, especially a quest or adventure.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     [N]oble minds of yore allyed were, / In braue poursuit of cheualrous emprize, / That none did others safety despize […]

   • 1833, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Coplas de Manrique:

     the deeds of love and high emprise

   • 1867, Dante Alighieri, “Canto II”, in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, transl., The Divine Comedy, volume I (Inferno), Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 8, lines 37–42:

     And as he is, who unwills what he willed, / And by new thoughts doth his intention change, / So that from his design he quite withdraws, / Such I became, upon that dark hillside, / Because, in thinking, I consumed the emprise, / Which was so very prompt in the beginning.

   • 1900, William Archer, America To-Day, Observations & Reflections, page 181:

     Nothing short of an imperative sense of duty could tempt me to set forth on that most perilous emprise, a discussion of the American language.

2. (archaic) The qualities which prompt one to undertake difficult and dangerous exploits; chivalric prowess.
   • 1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC:

     I love thy courage yet, and bold emprise; / But here thy sword can do thee little stead.

Verb

emprise (third-person singular simple present emprises, present participle emprising, simple past and past participle emprised)

1. (obsolete) To undertake.

References

• “emprise”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Emprise”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC.
• “emprise”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.

Anagrams

• empires, epimers, imprese, permies, premies, premise, spireme

French

Etymology

Compare Italian impresa, Spanish empresa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑ̃.pʁiz/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

emprise f (plural emprises)

1. expropriation
2. domination, control, influence
   • 2023 May, Luis Alberto Reygada, “Le rêve progressiste, et libre-échangiste, de la gauche latina”, in Le Monde diplomatique, page 9:

     Notre objectif est de développer notre région […] », ajoutait-il face à ses homologues écologistes européens, eux sensibles à la déforestation, au changement climatique et à l’emprise de la culture du soja (11).

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Further reading

• “emprise”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Old French

Noun

emprise oblique singular, f (oblique plural emprises, nominative singular emprise, nominative plural emprises)

1. enterprise; undertaking; activity

Derived terms

• emprisier

Descendants

• French: emprise
• → English: emprise

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (emprise)