levirate
NounOpen English WordNet
Noun (1)
- the biblical institution whereby a man must marry the widow of his childless brother in order to maintain the brother's lineType of institution
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ebullientadjective
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Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Lev′i·rate (lĕv′ĭ-rāt), Lev′i·rat′ic·al (-răt′ĭ-kal) adjective
Origin: L. levir a husband's brother, brother-in-law; akin to Gr. δαήρ: cf. F. lévirat leviration.
Of, pertaining to, or in accordance with, a law of the ancient Israelites and other tribes and races, according to which a woman, whose husband died without issue, was married to the husband's brother.
The firstborn son of a leviratical marriage was reckoned and registered as the son of the deceased brother.— Henry, Dean of Canterbury Alford
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54