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Webster 1913 Edition

Usurpation

Uˊsur-pa′tion

,
Noun.
[L.
usurpatio [GREEK]
making use, usurpation: cf. F.
usurpation
.]
1.
The act of usurping, or of seizing and enjoying; an authorized, arbitrary assumption and exercise of power, especially an infringing on the rights of others; specifically, the illegal seizure of sovereign power; – commonly used with of, also used with on or upon;
as, the
usurpation
of a throne; the
usurpation
of the supreme power
.
He contrived their destruction, with the
usurpation
of the regal dignity upon him.
Sir T. More.
A law [of a State] which is a
usurpation
upon the general government.
O. Ellsworth.
Manifest
usurpation
on the rights of other States.
D. Webster.
☞ Usurpation, in a peculiar sense, formerly denoted the absolute ouster and dispossession of the patron of a church, by a stranger presenting a clerk to a vacant benefice, who us thereupon admitted and instituted.
2.
Use; usage; custom.
[Obs.]
Bp. Pearson.

Webster 1828 Edition

Usurpation

USURPA'TION

,
Noun.
[supra.] The act of seizing or occupying and enjoying the property of another, without right; as the usurpation of a throne; the usurpation of the supreme power. Usurpation, in a peculiar sense, denotes the absolute ouster and dispossession of the patron of a church, by presenting a clerk to a vacant benefice, who is thereupon admitted and instituted.

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