n.; pl. Masteries [ OF. maistrie. ] [ 1913 Webster ] 1. The position or authority of a master; dominion; command; supremacy; superiority. [ 1913 Webster ] If divided by mountains, they will fight for the mastery of the passages of the tops. Sir W. Raleigh. [ 1913 Webster ] 2. Superiority in war or competition; victory; triumph; preeminence. [ 1913 Webster ] The voice of them that shout for mastery. Ex. xxxii. 18. [ 1913 Webster ] Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. 1 Cor. ix. 25. [ 1913 Webster ] O, but to have gulled him Had been a mastery. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ] 3. Contest for superiority. [ Obs. ] Holland. [ 1913 Webster ] 4. A masterly operation; a feat. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ] I will do a maistrie ere I go. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ] 5. Specifically, the philosopher's stone. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ] 6. The act process of mastering; the state of having mastered. [ 1913 Webster ] He could attain to a mastery in all languages. Tillotson. [ 1913 Webster ] The learning and mastery of a tongue, being unpleasant in itself, should not be cumbered with other difficulties. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ] |