noun

• (Absolute) control, dominion, sway.
  "The brutality, the unthinking, the unreflecting character of the barbarians were so great, that the new faith, the new feelings with which they had been inspired, exercised but a very slight empire over them."

adj

• (fashion, furniture, art) Following or imitating a style popular during the First French Empire (1804–1814).
  "However, the first style of this century was known as Empire furniture. It was a derivative of the French Empire furniture, popular at that time."
• (fashion, furniture, art) Following or imitating a style popular during the First French Empire (1804–1814).
  "...and for a moment he could not identify the lady in the Empire dress, nor imagine why her presence created such excitement among the initiated."
• (British, dated, of wine) Produced in a dependency of the British Empire or Commonwealth of Nations.
  "Wine from Portugal and France showed an irregular downward tendency over the period, while Empire wine from Australia and British South Africa rose rapidly, the former increasing nearly threefold between 1925 and 1927."