levirate
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of levirate
First recorded in 1715–25; from Latin lēvir “husband's brother” (akin to Greek dāḗr, Sanskrit devar, Old English tācor ) + -ate 3
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Several independent cases show that these communities practised so-called levirate unions.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 24, 2024
Practices such as the levirate, in which a young male marries his elder brother’s widow, were used widely by Inner Asian Steppe peoples and adopted by a number of early Korean ruling families.
From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023
Among these customs are infant marriage, infant betrothal, capture, purchase, marrying whole families of sisters, and the levirate.
From Primitive Love and Love-Stories by Henry Theophilus Finck
The Mosaic code had consecrated this patriarchal theory by a strange institution, the levirate law.
From The Life of Jesus by Ernest Renan
Consequently we cannot, as has already been the case with the so-called levirate, assign the practice definitely either to matripotestal or patripotestal customs, for father's and mother's authority are alike overruled.
From Kinship Organisations and Group Marriage in Australia by Northcote Whitridge Thomas
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
