Au-tŏc'ra-cy, n.

n. [Fr. autocratie, Gr. αὐτοκράτεια. See infra.] 1. Independent or self-derived power; self-created supremacy; autonomy. The divine will moves, not by the external impulse or inclination of objects, but determines itself by an absolute autocracy. South.

2. Supreme, uncontrolled, unlimited authority, or right of governing in a single person, as of an autocrat.
3. Sole right of self-government in a state. Barlow.
4. (Med.) The vital principle; the action of the vital principle, or of the instinctive powers toward the preservation of the individual. [In this sense, written also autocracy.] Dunglison.