[f. BIRTH1 + RIGHT.]
1. Right by birth; the rights, privileges or possessions to which one is entitled by birth; inheritance, patrimony. (Specifically used of the special rights of the first-born.)
1535. Coverdale, Gen. xxv. 31. Iacob sayde: Sell me this daye thy byrthright.
1593. Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., II. ii. 62. Be we the first That shall salute our rightfull Soueraigne With honor of his Birth-right to the Crowne.
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., II. xxi. 110. Their Private Inheritance and Birthright.
1718. Pope, Iliad, XV. 185. Our elder birthright and superior sway.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 445. The prince whom a faction … had tried to rob of his birthright.
attrib. 1652. T. Hodges, Hoary Head Cr., 18. Jacob … got the birth-right blessing.
1810. Scott, Lady of L., II. x. In Scotland’s court, thy birthright place.
fig. 1684. R. Waller, Nat. Exper., To Rdr. Among all the Creatures of Divine Wisdom, the Birthright doubtless belongs to the Idea of Truth.
2. Native right; lot to which birth entitles.
1659. Milton, Civ. Power, Wks. 1738, I. 555. The new Birth-right of every true Believer, Christian Liberty.
1719. W. Wood, Surv. Trade, 296. Freedom of Trade is their undoubted Birth-right.
1810. Coleridge, Friend (1865), 157. The laws of the land are the birth-right of every native.
1875. Farrar, Silence & V., viii. 136. Work is the best birthright which man still retains.
