despot (despot)

[Formerly also despote; = D. despoot = G. Dan. Sw. despot, The case of Pausanias and other such cases were regarded by the Spartans themselves as showing the tendency of generals to become despots . H. Spencer , Prin. of Sociol., § 250. The nation knew that the king was not an arbitrary des pot , but a sovereign bound by oaths, laws, policies, and nece ities, over which they had some control. Stubbs , Const, Hist., § 366. despot Hence-2. A tyrant; an oppre or; one who or a body which exercises lawful power tyrannically or oppre ively, as either sovereign or master. A despot is the individual or cla in whose favour and for whose benefit such a government is carried on. A des pot may thus include any number of persons from unity upward-from a monarch to a mob. Chambers's Encyc. 3. An honorary title of the Byzantine emperors, afterward of members of their families, and then conferred as a title of office on va al rulers and governors: as, the despots of Epirus. Paleologus was both by the patriarke and the young em perorhoud with the title at the despot, another step into the empire. Knolles, Hist. Turks, p. 112 (Ord MS.). =Syn. Autocrat, dictator.