usurpationn.
/ˌjuːzəːˈpeɪʃn/, /ˌjuːsəːˈpeɪʃn/, U.S. /ˌjusərˈpeɪʃən/, /ˌjuzərˈpeɪʃən/ I. The action of usurping by force or without authority, and related uses.† 4. † 5. Roman Law. Interruption of usucapion.
1. Claim or assertion that is unwarranted or unauthorized; unjustified assumption, arrogation, or pretension.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > dueness or propriety > moral impropriety > [noun] > wrongful claim, possession, or seizure > unwarranted claim
usurpation1426
arrogating1573
misclaiming1583
arrogation1596
assumption1646
try-on1823
1426 J. Lydgate tr. G. de Guileville Pilgrimage Life Man 17716 Fyrst, ageynes al resoun, I wolde, by vsurpacioun, Fro poynt to poynt in ech degre, The zodyak sholde obeye me.
1532 (c1385) Usk's Test. Loue in Wks. G. Chaucer i. f. cccxxxv Their name of godlyheed thy [sc. devils] han by vsurpacion, as the prophete saythe [etc.].
1622 G. de Malynes Consuetudo i. i. 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 J. Bulwer Anthropometamorphosis 203 She might the better conceal her usurpation and counterfeit manhood.
1727 D. Defoe Syst. Magick i. i. 21 As he usurped divine Honours, so he made a Figure suitable to his Usurpation.
a1854 H. Reed Lect. Brit. Poets (1857) i. 18 The sovereignty of even Homer or Shakspeare could hold no exclusive usurpation.
2. figurative and in extended use.1655 in F. P. Verney & M. M. Verney Mem. Verney Family 17th Cent. (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.
a. 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 personified.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > taking > taking possession > [noun] > appropriation > without right
presumptiona1387
usurpationc1420
presumptuositya1450
usurpmenta1470
usurping1521
usurpa1647
usurpature1845
society > law > rule of law > lawlessness > specific offences > [noun] > illegal seizure or wrongful occupation
usurpationc1420
c1420 J. Lydgate 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 of þe samyn landis.
1573 in J. Stuart Extracts Council Reg. Aberdeen (1848) II. 10 The usurpatioune of the preuilegeis of the burght.
1597 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie v. lxii. 150 Considering that the worke of externall ministerie in baptisme is only a preeminence of honor which they that take to themselues..do..by meanes of such vsurpation incurre the iust blame of disobedience to the law of God.
1654 J. Bramhall Just Vindic. Church of Eng. i. 2 Whatsoeuer the Popes of Rome gained upon us..was meer tyranny and usurpation.
1693 J. Dryden Disc. conc. Satire in J. Dryden et al. tr. Juvenal Satires p. xxxix 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.
1785 W. 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 J. Mill Hist. 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 W. Scott Ivanhoe III. xiv. 349 I will appeal to Rome against thee..for usurpation on the immunities and privileges of our Order.
1837 H. Martineau Society in Amer. II. 80 The United States having furnished the means by which the usurpation of Texas has been achieved.
b. esp. The unlawful or forcible seizure or occupation of a throne, sovereign power, etc.; wrongful assumption of supreme authority.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > office > accession or entering upon office or authority > [noun] > wrongful assumption of office or authority
usurpmenta1470
usurpation1470
usurping1521
usurpa1647
self-assumptiona1658
accroaching1659
society > law > rule of law > lawlessness > specific offences > [noun] > illegal assumption of authority
presumptuositya1450
usurpmenta1470
usurpation1470
usurping1521
presumption1565
usurpa1647
rebuttable presumption1837
1470 Rolls of Parl. V. 456/2 Edward.., late by usurpacion Kyng of England.
1485 Rolls of Parl. VI. 276/1 Callinge and nameinge hymself, by usurpacion, King Richard the iiid.
1578 T. Nicholas tr. F. Lopez de Gómara Pleasant Hist. Conquest W. India 77 Those Princes began their usurpation by way and colour of Religion.
1610 P. Holland tr. W. Camden Brit. i. 725 The violent usurpation of Henry the Fourth.
a1616 W. Shakespeare King John (1623) ii. i. 9 To rebuke the vsurpation Of thy vnnaturall Vncle, English Iohn. View more context for this quotation
1683 Britanniæ Speculum 64 This Power he got by Usurpation, and not by any Election of..the People.
1729 T. Innes Crit. Ess. Anc. Inhabitants Scotl. II. 747 This leaves no room for his expedition.., either before or after his usurpation.
1776 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall I. xii. 330 Florianus shewed himself unworthy to reign, by the hasty usurpation of the purple, without expecting the approbation of the senate.
1791 E. Burke Corr. (1844) III. 282 The assembly cannot annihilate the constitutional states. It is itself an usurpation, and its acts are void.
1848 H. H. Wilson Hist. Brit. India 1805–35 III. v. 189 He also calculated upon..the co-operation of a strong party inimical to the usurpation.
1856 N. Brit. Rev. 26 289 This government of generals, successively ruling..by forcible usurpation.
1877 J. A. Froude Short Stud. (1883) IV. i. ii. 19 The usurpation of Stephen had left behind it a legacy of disorder.
c. With a and plural: An act of usurping another's rights, privileges, etc.; an instance of encroachment on or upon (liberty, etc.).
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > dueness or propriety > moral impropriety > [noun] > infringement of rights, etc.
intrusion1433
intruseryc1470
attainmentc1503
encroachment1523
encroaching1539
trenching1543
infringinga1575
usurpationa1626
entrenching1629
entrenchment1635
invasion1650
impingement1671
infringement1673
trespass1769
usurpature1845
a1626 W. Rowley Birth of Merlin (1662) sig. F4 The Saxons which thou broughtst to back thy usurpations, are grown great.
1638 R. Baker tr. J. L. G. de Balzac New Epist. II. 3 This so Tyrannicall an usurpation upon the liberty of mens spirits.
1679 C. Ness Distinct Disc. Antichrist 213 The corruptions and usurpations of Antichrist.
1724 Visct. Bolingbroke Let. 12 Sept. in J. Swift Lett. (1766) II. 272 Exercising an insolent and cruel usurpation over their brethren.
1757 in 10th Rep. Royal Comm. Hist. MSS (1885) App. i. 217 What he called Our Usurpations in America.
1771 O. Goldsmith 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 Inst. Eng. Govt. i. vii. 82 Usurpations of unconstitutional powers by the House of Commons.
d. transferred. Physical encroachment on sea or land. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > formation of features > sedimentation > [noun] > usurpation
usurpation1553
1553 J. Brende tr. Q. Curtius Rufus Hist. iv. f. 41v The Tyrians deuined that Neptune reuenging the vsurpacion that the Macedons had made vpon the sea, would shortely destroy the worcke.
1600 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 2 i. i. 63 So lookes the strond, whereon the imperious floud, Hath left a witnest vsurpation . View more context for this quotation
3. Ecclesiastical Law. The action on the part of a stranger of dispossessing a lawful patron of the right of presenting a cleric to a benefice.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > worship > benefice > advowson > [noun] > of stranger: usurpation
usurpationa1626
a1626 F. Bacon Elements Common Lawes (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 E. Coke 1st Pt. Inst. Lawes Eng. 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.
a1689 W. Watson Clergy-man's Law (1701) 89 By Usurpation the rightful Patron may be divested of the possession of his Advowson.
a1733 Raymond Reports (1743) 953 If a purchaser of an advowson in fee-simple, before any presentment, suffer an usurpation.
1768 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. 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.
a. Usurpatory rule or power. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > [noun] > usurped authority
intruseryc1470
usurpation1654
1654 E. Wolley tr. ‘G. de Scudéry’ Curia Politiæ 125 To re-conquer Amuraths Usurpation, and attain to the King my Fathers Throne.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost ii. 983 If I that Region lost, All usurpation thence expell'd, reduce To her original darkness and your sway. View more context for this quotation
1761 D. 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 n. 3b).
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > a or the system of government > specific regimes > [noun] > in Britain
commonwealth1649
protectorate1662
the usurpation1682
Robinocracy1717
restoration1724
1664 G. Fell in Extracts State Papers (Friends' Hist. Soc.) (1912) 3rd Ser. 227 Seduced into that Phanatique opinion of the Quakers in the late time of Vsurpation.]
1682 in Sc. Antiquary (1901) July 4 The tyme of the late rebellione and wsurpatione.
1712 J. Swift Proposal for Eng. Tongue 18 During the Usurpation, such an Infusion of Enthusiastick Jargon prevailed in every Writing, as [etc.].
1782 T. Pennant Journey Chester to London 235 On the usurpation, he had the meanness to sit in Cromwell's mock parlement.
1829 W. Scott Heart of Mid-Lothian iv. (note) in Tales of my Landlord 2nd Ser. II. 90 He afterwards advanced £20,000 for the service of King Charles, during the usurpation.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > legal right > right of possession or ownership > [noun] > acquisition of title by long use > interruption of
usurpation1676
1676 R. Dixon Nature Two Test. 551 A wife: not a Concubine, might be taken by use; for a whole un-interrupted year without usurpation.
II. The action of making use of a thing, and related uses.
6. † b. A special use of a word or expression. Obsolete.
a. The action of taking into use or making use of a thing; acceptance or agreement in the use of anything; usage, employment.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > advantage > usefulness > use (made of things) > [noun] > taking into use
adoption?1510
usurpation1583
1583 W. Fulke Def. Transl. Script. 160 Which worde [sc. priests] is taken vp by common vsurpation, to signifie sacrificers.
1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie iii. xix. 204 By common vsurpation, nothing is wiser then the Serpent, more couragious then the Lion, more bewtifull then the Angell.
1610 J. Guillim Display of Heraldrie 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 J. Pearson Expos. Apostles 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.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > semantics > types of semantic change > [noun]
usurpation1644
amelioration1871
pejoration1889
adequation1931
permutation1931
melioration1939
loan-shift1950
signal reaction1976
1644 J. Bulwer Chirologia To Rdr. sig. Aviv Humane literature, wherein..I shall lay claime to all metaphors, proverbiall translations or usurpations.
Derivatives
Also attributive.
usurˈpationist n. one who advocates usurpation.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > [noun] > usurped authority > one who advocates
usurpationist1899
1899 R. Wallace George Buchanan iii. 58 A principle..subversive of the despotic doctrine of the Divine right of Kings, so prevalent in usurpationist quarters in that day.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1926; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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