A Captain Absolute, a bold, despotic man, determined to have his own way. The character is in Sheridan’s play called The Rivals.
Sir Anthony Absolute, a warm-hearted, testy, overbearing country squire, in the same play. William Dowton (1764–1851) was nick-named “Sir Anthony Absolute.”
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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.