# 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: /ɛmˈpɹaɪz/

### Noun

emprise (plural emprises)
* (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.
* (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)
* (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: /ɑ̃.pʁiz/
* Audio:(file)

### Noun

emprise f (plural emprises)
* expropriation
* 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)
* 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)