KJV Dictionary Definition: usurp

usurp

USURP', v.t. s as z. L. usurpo.

To seize and hold in possession by force or without right; as, to usurp a throne; to usurp the prerogatives of the crown; to usurp power. To usurp the right of a patron, is to oust or dispossess him.

Vice sometimes usurps the place of virtue.

Usurp is not applied to common dispossession of private property.

usurpation

USURPA'TION, n. 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.

usurped

USURP'ED, pp. Seized or occupied and enjoyed by violence, or without right.

usurper

USURP'ER, n. One who seizes or occupies the property of another without right; as the usurper of a throne, of power, or of the rights of a patron.

usurping

USURP'ING, ppr. Seizing or occupying the power or property of another without right.

The worst of tyrants, an usurping crowd.

usurpingly

USURP'INGLY, adv. By usurpation; without just right or claim.

Definitions from Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828.
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