paramount (paramount)

and n. [Formerly also per amount; Thus all the land in the kingdom is supposed to be holden, mediately or immediately, of the king, who is styled the lord paramount , or above all. IMG:content-2314.png:[graphic] Black stone, Com., II. v. But while the influence of the House of Commons in the Government was becoming paramount , the influence of the people over the House of Commons was declining. Macaulay , Horace Walpole. The administration of justice was rescued from the para mount influence of the crown. Bancroft, Hist. U. S., I. 381. 2t. Above; superior to: with a prepositional force. The king do me in parliament a embled is above the king, as a generall councell is paramount the pope. Prynne, Treachery and Disloyalty, i. 7. 3. Eminent; of the highest order; especially, of chief or superior importance; above all others as regards importance; superior: as, the paramount duty of a citizen. John a Chamber... was hanged upon a gibbet raised a stage higher in the midst of a square gallows, as a traitor paramount . Bacon, Works (ed. Spedding), XL. 136. Of all the Ble ings that ever dropt down from Heaven upon Man, that of his Redemption may be called the Ble ing paramount . Howell, Letters, iii. 4. If man's convenience, health, Or safety interfere, his rights and claims Are paramount , and must extinguish theirs. IMG:content-2315.png:[blocks in formation]