arrogatev.
/ˈarəɡeɪt/, U.S. /ˈɛrəˌɡeɪt/ I. To claim without justification.† 4. intransitive. To behave in a presumptuous or arrogant manner. Obsolete. rare.
1. To claim or appropriate (a right, title, privilege, power, etc.) falsely or without justification, esp. as a result of presumptuousness or arrogance.
a. transitive. With to (also occasionally †for, unto) and reflexive pronoun.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > dueness or propriety > moral impropriety > be morally improper for [verb (transitive)] > claim unduly
presume of1415
arrogate1537
assume1548
usurp1549
misclaim1746
1537 tr. H. Latimer Serm. to Clergie sig. B.viii Howe moche so euer we arrogate [L. arrogamus] these holy tytles vnto vs.
1574 T. Tymme tr. J. de Serres Three Partes Comm. Ciuill Warres Fraunce i. 60 It was not lawfull for the Guises, to arrogate vnto themselues the titles and authoritie of Princes, which onely appertained to the Kings bloude.
1627 J. C. Fursdon tr. R. Smith Life Visctess. Montague i. 2 King Henry the VIII. calling a Parlament, purposed..to arrogate vnto himselfe the title of head of the Church of England.
1671 J. Milton Paradise Regain'd iv. 313 To themselves All glory arrogate, to God give none. View more context for this quotation
a1754 T. Carte Gen. Hist. Eng. (1755) IV. 87 This was arrogating plenipotency to themselves.
1777 R. Watson Hist. Reign Philip II I. xiii. 428 The Spaniards..had arrogated to themselves every important branch of the administration.
1861 Ld. Brougham Brit. Constit. (new ed.) ix. 120 They arrogated to themselves the right of approving or rejecting all that was done.
1891 T. Hardy Tess of the D'Urbervilles II. xxxvii. 242 He went so far as to arrogate to himself the right of harming her.
1950 D. Cusack Morning Sacrifice in 3 Austral. Three-act Plays iii. ii. 250 I now arrogate to myself my last privilege before I leave you.
1999 D. J. Schroeter in Y. K. Stillman & N. A. Stillman From Iberia to Diaspora i. 94 Macnin..arrogated for himself the position of official representative of the Moroccan government in London.
2000 Business Recorder (Karachi) 10 Apr. 3/8 He said it is not for the Secretary General of the Commonwealth to arrogate to himself the right to criticize the judgement.
b. transitive. With simple object.
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1566 J. Barthlet Pedegrewe Heretiques f. 6 Such..ambiciously coueting to be aduaunced vnto godly honour, arrogate the authoritie of yoking religion and superstition togither.
1593 T. Bilson Perpetual Govt. Christes Church 18 May they not arrogate any parte of Christes honour.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost xii. 27 Will arrogate Dominion undeserv'd Over his brethren. View more context for this quotation
1702 N. Rowe Tamerlane ii. ii. 18 And arrogate a Praise which is not ours.
1798 Crit. Rev. 23 App. 582 The majority of the constituent assembly arrogated the title and functions of the legislative body of the state.
1806 G. Pinckard Notes W. Indies II. 76 The slaves, who proudly arrogate a superiority above the negroes of the other islands!
1858 J. Doran Hist. Court Fools 92 The liberty arrogated by the professor of wit.
1920 Amer. Woman Aug. 5/2 He'd even arrogated the habit of planning how Beatrice and he should spend the leisure part of their days.
1982 ‘E. Peters’ Virgin in Ice (1984) x. 145 But if I may not arrogate blame, I am noble, and I will demand vengeance.
2001 J. Franzen Corrections 31 I'm saying the bureaucracy has arrogated the right to define certain states of mind as ‘diseased’.
2. To claim to possess (something, esp. a quality) falsely or without justification, esp. as a result of presumptuousness or arrogance; to assert without foundation that one has; to assume.† c. transitive. With infinitive or clause as object. Obsolete.
a. transitive. With to (also occasionally for, †unto) and reflexive pronoun.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > dueness or propriety > moral impropriety > be morally improper for [verb (transitive)] > claim unduly > the possession of some quality
arrogate1563
1563 2nd Tome Homelyes sig. Mmmm.iiv Whether all men do iustly arrogate to themselues ye holy ghost, or no?
1607 R. Abbot tr. St. Augustine of Hippo in 2nd Pt. Def. Reformed Catholicke 756 They arrogate vnto themselues so great righteousness.
1629 J. Mede Let. 21 Oct. in Wks. (1664) iv. xii. 926 Nor do I arrogate so much ability to my self.
1700 C. Leigh Nat. Hist. Lancs. ii. 43 I do not speak this as any wise arrogating a greater Genius to my self,..but only from the Phænomena I have observ'd in Nature.
1791 W. Belsham Ess. II. xl. 501 They arrogate..all wisdom, knowledge, and even honesty, to themselves.
1872 W. Black Strange Adventures Phaeton xxix. 384 She arrogated to herself a certain importance.
1922 J. Warshaw New Lat. Amer. ix. 225 To deny that social and political progress can thrive in Latin America is to arrogate wisdom to ourselves.
1967 Times 16 Dec. 8/7 Never was it more necessary..for the richer to realize that they have no right to arrogate virtue to themselves.
2005 Jerusalem Post (Nexis) 9 Sept. (Opinion section) 14 Yosef arrogates to himself a wisdom not granted to human beings.
b. transitive. With simple object.In quot. 1581 with pronoun as object, referring to an infinitive clause; cf. sense 2c.
ΚΠ
1581 T. Newton tr. M. Luther Comm. Epist. St. Peter & St. Jude f. 10v How..shall wee by our owne strength arrogate that, whiche of all other is moste excellent, namely to beleeue?
1598 R. Barckley Disc. Felicitie of Man Ded. One that arrogateth superioritie ouer all.
1660 T. Stanley Hist. Philos. III. i. 145 Thus Pythagoras might arrogate the soul of Euphorbus.
1769 Philos. Trans. 1768 (Royal Soc.) 58 149 I can arrogate no merit in the discovery.
1788 W. Young Let. 10 Aug. in Duke of Buckingham Mem. Court & Cabinets George III (1853) I. 416 The Foxites..sought to arrogate all credit from that tranquillity of the night which they could not prevent.
1848 H. Rogers Ess. I. vi. 321 Arrogating the exclusive possession of wisdom.
1867 C. Upham Salem Witchcraft I. ii. 326 They arrogated the credit of being raised to a higher sphere of knowledge than the rest of mankind.
1915 D. H. Lawrence Rainbow ii. 53 Arrogating a curious superiority to him.
2009 U. Steinvorth Rethinking Western Understanding of Self xvii. 156 Salvation religion has arrogated the intellectual task of presenting and exploring meaning.
ΚΠ
1590 C. S. Briefe Resol. Right Relig. 1 The papistical Romishe Church arrogateth, that they are the true church.
1628 G. Wither Britain's Remembrancer v. f. 139v Doe falsly arrogate to be inspired.
1648 C. Walker Relations & Observ. ii. 29 They arrogate to be the peculiar people of God.
1708 C. Leslie Socinian Controv. Discuss'd iii. 43 Who..did Not Rob God of His Honour by Arrogating to be God, or Equal to God.
3. transitive. With to, for. To claim (something) without justification on another's behalf; to assign or attribute (something) unduly, inappropriately, or incorrectly.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > dueness or propriety > [verb (transitive)] > assign as properly relating to
ascribe1382
titlec1425
adscribe1534
credit1563
arrogate1584
to give a person credit for1641
1584 W. Allen True Def. Eng. Catholiques viii. 198 The next step vnto which is (doubtles) to say and beleeue, that a temporal King is aboue the Priest in causes ecclesiastical..and so arrogate the regiment of the Church to a Queene.
1605 T. Tymme tr. J. Du Chesne Pract. Chymicall & Hermeticall Physicke i. vi. sig. D4v We deny that those inset and naturall qualities..are to be arrogated to hotte, moist, and drie.
1818 S. T. Coleridge tr. in Friend (new ed.) I. iv. 34 To Antiquity we arrogate many things, to ourselves nothing.
1863 H. Cox Inst. Eng. Govt. i. viii. 111 An attempt was made..to arrogate to the Crown the privilege of issuing writs during a prorogation.
1953 Western Polit. Q. 6 814 They arrogated for Russian autocracy the role of freeing ‘the suffering Slav brothers’ from a foreign political yoke.
1991 Oxf. Art Jrnl. 14 i. 95/2 Advocates..tend to misread the modern and arrogate its defining characteristics to their own period.
2013 W. B. Hallaq Impossible State (2014) ii. 35 Arrogating to the social order an agency that stands autonomous from the state.
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1649 J. Milton Tenure of Kings 12 No Christian Prince..would arrogate so unreasonably above human condition.
II. To adopt.† 6. transitive. To adopt or assume (a defining characteristic of another person). Obsolete. rare.
5. transitive. Roman Law. To adopt (a person who is not subject to the legal power of another); = adrogate v. Now rare.Attested earliest as past participle.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > join by kindred or affinity [verb (transitive)] > adopt > a child
adoptc1429
arrogate1565
dopta1607
1565 W. Alley Πτωχομυσεῖον ii. f. 115 For they were arrogate, that is, demaunded whether they would be in the steede of lawfull children to him that did adopte them.
1649 Bp. J. Taylor Great Exemplar iii. §15. 89 He did arrogate John..into Maries kindred, making him to be her adopted son.
1675 G. Mackenzie Observ. upon 28. Act, 23. Parl. James VI 19 Minors who were adopted or arrogated, might revoke what was done in prejudice of their fourth part due to them.
1749 G. Harris tr. Justinian Institutes: Liber Primus i. xi. §3. 118 When any Person, not arrived at Puberty, is arrogated by the imperial Rescript, the Cause is first inquired into.
1795 W. Beloe tr. Aulus Gellius Attic Nights I. v. xix. 332 No-one could be arrogated before he became a youth.
1849 P. M. de Colquhoun Summ. Rom. Civil Law I. ii. iv. 551 A man could arrogate his own libertus, who then obtained ingenuus rights.
1891 Church Rev. Oct. 131 It was often the custom to adopt or arrogate a son, in order that the domestic religion might not cease.
2004 C. J. Reid Power over Body, Equality in Family iv. 190 One who has been arrogated..was thereby transferred to the power of the arrogator.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > taking > taking possession > take possession of [verb (transitive)] > appropriate > without right or usurp
fornimOE
crochec1380
presume1387
encroach?a1400
usurpc1400
wrestc1426
accroach?a1439
supplant1483
usurpa1513
usurpate1542
arrogate1573
to usurp on or upon1594
invade1617
1573 Epitome of Doct. Barnes Wks. in W. Tyndale et al. Wks. ii. 371/1 The Byshops..doe arrogate vnto them selues some thyng of the Phariseis pride.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2017; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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