[a. OF. and AF. usurpacion (F. usurpation), ad. L. ūsūrpātion-, ūsūrpātio, n. of action f. ūsūrpāre: see USURP v. Cf. It. usurpazione, Sp. usurpacion, Pr. -cioun, Pg. usurpação.]
I. 1. Claim or assertion that is unwarranted or unauthorized; unjustified assumption, arrogation, or pretension.
1387–8. T. Usk, Test. Love, I. ix. (Skeat), l. 117. Their name of godliheed, they [sc. devils] han by usurpacion, as the prophete sayth [etc.].
1426. Lydg., De Guil. Pilgr., 17716. Fyrst, ageynes al resoun, I wolde, by vsurpacioun, Fro poynt to poynt in ech degre, The zodyak sholde obeye me.
1622. Malynes, Anc. Law-Merch., 4. The Customes of Merchants concerning trafficke,… when they are not truely obserued in some places, by some errour or misprision,… loose their names, and are called Vsurpation.
1650. Bulwer, Anthropomet., 203. She might the better conceal her usurpation and counterfeit manhood.
1727. De Foe, Syst. Magic, I. i. (1840), 20. As he usurped divine honours, so he made a figure suitable to his usurpation.
a. 1854. H. Reed, Lect. Brit. Poets, i. (1857), 18. The sovereignty or even Homer or Shakspeare could hold no exclusive usurpation.
2. The action of usurping, illegally seizing, or wrongfully occupying some place or property belonging to a person or persons; unlawful encroachment upon or intrusion into the office, right, etc., of another or others; unjust or illegal possession. Also personif.
c. 1420. Lydg., Assembly of Gods, 661. Vsurpacion, with Horryble Vengeaunce, Came alther last of that company.
1480. Acta Dom. Conc. (1839), 74/2. Þe vsurpacion and purprisioun done in þe takin vp of þe malis or þe samyn landis.
1573. Extr. Aberd. Reg. (1848), II. 10. The usurpatioune of the preuilegeis of the burght.
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. lxii. S 22. Considering that the worke of externall ministerie in Baptisme is only a preeminence of honor, which they that take to themselues … doe,… by meanes of such vsurpation, incurre the iust blame of disobedience to the Law of God.
1654. Bramhall, Just Vind., i. (1661), 2. Whatsoeuer the Popes of Rome gained upon us … was meer tyranny and usurpation.
1692. Dryden, Disc. Satire, Ess. (ed. Ker), II. 88. The usurpation of that prince upon their freedom.
1766. J. Z. Holwell, Orig. Princ. Anc. Bramins, II. iv. [Men] do, by the force of their tyrannic usurpation, labor to make their [sc. the animals’] state more miserable.
1784. Cowper, Task, V. 760. Ye will not find … A liberty like his, who, unimpeach’d Of usurpation, and to no man’s wrong, Appropriates nature as his father’s work.
1817. Jas. Mill, Brit. India, II. IV. v. 199. The servants of the Company were now vested with a right to that plentiful source of gain, in which they had hitherto participated only by usurpation.
1819. Scott, Ivanhoe, xliv. I will appeal to Rome against thee … for usurpation on the immunities and privileges of our Order.
1837. Ht. Martineau, Soc. Amer., II. 80. The United States having furnished the means by which the usurpation of Texas has been achieved.
fig. and transf. 1655. in Verney Mem. (1907), II. 24. There is a soveranity in honour which noe usurpation can depose.
1900. ‘J. Doe,’ Bridge Man., 18. If the usurpation of your right to double make no difference to the original lead.
b. esp. The unlawful or forcible seizure or occupation of a throne, sovereign power, etc.; wrongful assumption of supreme authority.
1470. Rolls of Parlt., V. 456/2. Edward…, late by usurpacion Kyng of England. Ibid. (1485), VI. 276/1. Callinge and nameinge hymself, by usurpacion, King Richard the IIId.
1578. T. N., trans. Conq. W. India, 77. Those Princes began their usurpation by way and colour of Religion.
1595. Shaks., John, II. i. 9. To rebuke the vsurpation Of thy vnnaturall Vncle, English Iohn.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit., I. 725. The violent usurpation of Henry the Fourth.
1683. Brit. Spec., 64. This Power he got by Usurpation, and not by any Election of … the People.
1729. T. Innes, Crit. Essay (1879), 402. This leaves no room for his expedition…, either before or after his usurpation.
1776. Gibbon, Decl. & F., xii. I. 330. Florianus shewed himself unworthy to reign, by the hasty usurpation of the purple, without expecting the approbation of the senate.
1791. Burke, Corr. (1844), III. 282. The assembly cannot annihilate the constitutional states. It is itself an usurpation, and its acts are void.
1844. H. H. Wilson, Brit. India, III. 189. He also calculated upon a division of feeling among the Jauts, and the co-operation of a strong party inimical to the usurpation.
1856. N. Brit. Rev., XXVI. 289. This government of generals, successively ruling … by forcible usurpation.
1877. Froude, Short Stud. (1883), IV. I. ii. 19. The usurpation of Stephen had left behind it a legacy of disorder.
c. With a and pl.: An act of usurping another’s rights, privileges, etc.; an instance of encroachment on or upon (liberty, etc.).
16[?]. Rowley, Birth Merl., IV. iii. 14. Vort. The Saxons which thou broughtst To back thy usurpations, are grown great.
1638. R. Baker, trans. Balzac’s Lett. (vol. II.), 3. This so tyrannical an usurpation upon the liberty of mens spirits.
1679. C. Nesse, Antichrist, 213. The corruptions and usurpations of Antichrist.
1721. Bolingbroke, in Swift’s Lett. (1766), II. 41. Exercising an insolent and cruel usurpation over their brethren.
1757. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. I. 217. What he called Our Usurpations in America.
1771. Goldsm., Hist. Eng., III. 250. The depression of the nobility as a necessary consequence of the popular usurpations on the crown.
1823. Tonstall’s Serm. Palm Sund., Pref. 2. The bondage of a baneful and preposterous usurpation on the liberties of mankind.
1863. H. Cox, Instit., I. vii. 82. Usurpations of unconstitutional powers by the House of Commons.
d. transf. Physical encroachment on sea or land. rare.
1553. Brende, Q. Curtius, 41 b. The Tyrians deuined that Neptune reuenging the vsurpacion that the Macedons had made vpon the sea, would shortely destroy the worcke.
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., I. i. 63. So lookes the Strond, when the Imperious Flood Hath left a witnest Vsurpation.
3. Eccl. Law. The action on the part of a Stranger of dispossessing a lawful patron of the right of presenting a cleric to a benefice.
1596. Bacon, Max. Com. Law (1630), 2. So if I be seised of an advouson in gross, and an vsurpation bee had against mee, and at the next avoidance I vsurpe arere, I shall be remitted.
1628. Coke, On Litt., 277 b. When an estranger that no right hath presenteth to a Church, and his Clarke is admitted and instituted, hee is said to bee an vsurper, and the wrongfull act … is called an Usurpation.
1701. W. Watson, Clergyman’s Law, 89. By Usurpation the rightful Patron may be divested of the possession of his Advowson.
a. 1733. Raymond, Reports (1743), 953. If a purchaser of an advowson in fee-simple, before any presentment, suffer an usurpation.
1768. Blackstone, Comm., III. 242. Another species of injury, called usurpation; which is an absolute ouster or dispossession of the patron.
1877. F. G. Lee, Gloss. Liturg. & Eccl. Terms, 432. No usurpation can displace the estate or interest of any patron, nor turn it to a mere right.
† 4. Usurpatory rule or power. Obs. rare.
1654. trans. Scudery’s Curia Pol., 125. To re-conquer Amuraths Usurpation, and attain to the King my Fathers Throne.
1667. Milton, P. L., I. 983. If I that Region lost, All usurpation thence expell’d, reduce To her original darkness and your sway.
1761. Hume, Hist. Eng., II. xxiii. 67. The duke … attempted to overthrow that usurpation which he himself had so zealously contributed to establish.
b. The usurpation, the period of the Commonwealth (COMMONWEALTH 4).
[1664. G. Fell, in Extr. St. Papers Friends, Ser. III. (1912), 227. Seduced into that Phanatique opinion of the Quakers in the late time of Vsurpation.]
1682. in Scottish Antiq., July (1901), 4. The tyme of the late rebellione and wsurpatione.
1727. Swift, Lett. Eng. Tongue, Wks. 1755, II. I. 187. During the usurpation, such an infusion of enthusiastic jargon prevailed in every writing, as [etc.].
1782. Pennant, Jourl. Chester to Lond., 235. On the usurpation, he had the meanness to sit in Cromwell’s mock parlement.
1829. Scott, Hrt. Midl., Note R. He afterwards advanced £20,000 for the service of King Charles, during the usurpation.
† 5. Roman Law. Interruption of usucapion.
1676. R. Dixon, Two Testaments, 551. A wife: not a Concubine, might be taken by use; for a whole un-interrupted year without usurpation.
II. 6. The action of taking into use or making use of a thing; acceptance or agreement in the use of anything; usage, employment.
1583. Fulke, Def. Tr. Script., 160. Which worde [sc. priests] is taken vp by common vsurpation, to signifie sacrificers.
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, III. xix. (Arb.), 250. By common vsurpation, nothing is wiser then the Serpent, more couragious then the Lion, more bewtifull then the Angell.
1611. Guillim, Heraldry, VI. v. 269. No man had his Badge set on a Wreath vnder the degree of a Knight: But … time and vsurpation concurring with prescription, hath so much preuailed, as that [etc.].
1659. Pearson, Creed, 252. There can be no kind of certainty in any such observations of the Articles, because the Greeks promiscuously often use them, or omit them, without any reason of their usurpation or omission.
† b. A special use of a word or expression. Obs.
1644. Bulwer, Chirol., To Rdr. A 6 b. Humane literature, wherein … I shall lay claime to all metaphors, proverbiall translations or usurpations.
Hence Usurpationist, one who advocates usurpation. Also attrib.
1834. Carlisle (PA) Herald, etc., 27 Aug., 2/4. There was to have been a grand Whig Festival at New Orleans, on the 4th inst. in commemoration of the recent decisive victory at the polls, over the Usurpationists.
1899. R. Wallace, Geo. Buchanan, iii. 58. A principle … subversive of the despotic doctrine of the Divine right of Kings, so prevalent in usurpationist quarters in that day.
