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Webster 1913 Edition

Usurp

U-surp′

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Usurped
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Usurping
.]
[L.
usurpare
,
usurpatum
, to make use of, enjoy, get possession of, usurp; the first part of
usurpare
is akin to
usus
use (see
Use
, n.): cf. F.
usurper
.]
To seize, and hold in possession, by force, or without right;
as, to
usurp
a throne; to
usurp
the prerogatives of the crown; to
usurp
power; to
usurp
the right of a patron is to oust or dispossess him.
Alack, thou dost
usurp
authority.
Shakespeare
Another revolution, to get rid of this illegitimate and
usurped
government, would of course be perfectly justifiable.
Burke.
☞ Usurp is applied to seizure and use of office, functions, powers, rights, etc.; it is not applied to common dispossession of private property.
Syn. – To arrogate; assume; appropriate.

U-surp′

,
Verb.
I.
To commit forcible seizure of place, power, functions, or the like, without right; to commit unjust encroachments; to be, or act as, a usurper.
The parish churches on which the Presbyterians and fanatics had
usurped
.
Evelyn.
And now the Spirits of the Mind
Are busy with poor Peter Bell;
Upon the rights of visual sense
Usurping
, with a prevalence
More terrible than magic spell.
Wordsworth.

Webster 1828 Edition

Usurp

USURP'

,
Verb.
T.
s as z. [L. usurpo.]
To seize and hold in possession by force or without right; as, to usurp a throne; to usurp the prerogatives of the crown; to usurp power. To usurp the right of a patron, is to oust or dispossess him.
Vice sometimes usurps the place of virtue.
[Usurp is not applied to common dispossession of private property.]

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