Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The practice of marrying the widow of one's childless brother to maintain his line, as required by ancient Hebrew law.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The institution of marriage between a man and the widow of his brother or nearest kinsman under certain circumstances. Among the ancient Hebrews such marriage was required in case the brother died childless, for the purpose of continuing his family, the firstborn son being the heir of the deceased husband. (Deut. xxv. 5–10; see also Mat. xxii. 24–26.) From the book of Ruth it appears that the obligation rested upon the nearest kinsman of the husband if there was no brother. It was counted disgraceful for a man to refuse to submit himself to it. A similar custom prevails in parts of India.
- Of or pertaining to the levirate: as, levirate marriage; levirate law.
Wiktionary
- adj. Having to do with one's husband's brother.
- n. countable A marriage between a widow and her deceased husband's brother or, sometimes, heir.
- n. anthropology The institution of levirate marriage.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. 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.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the biblical institution whereby a man must marry the widow of his childless brother in order to maintain the brother's line
Etymologies
- From Latin lēvir ("husband's brother, brother-in-law") + -ate (Wiktionary)
- From Latin lēvir, husband's brother; see daiwer- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“This is referred to as a levirate marriage, and it's still in healthy practice today (see HBO's Deadwood, again, not exactly the same thing).”
“The object of the book has been supposed by some to be to commend the so-called levirate marriage.”
“Another form of Hebrew marriage was the so-called levirate type (from the Lat. levir, i.e. brother-in-law), i.e. the marriage between a widow, whose husband had died childless, and her brother-in-law.”
“A woman whose husband died without issue was bound by law to be married to her husband's brother, and the fist-born son of such a so-called levirate marriage was reckoned and registered as the son of the deceased brother (Deut., xxv, 5 sqq.).”
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 6: Fathers of the Church-Gregory XI
“As for the levirate, that is another very wide-spread custom which shows an utter disregard of woman's preference and choice.”
“These women, however, were yevamot and therefore each wanted the child in order to be freed of the obligation of yibum (levirate marriage).”
“Judah has now performed the levirate (despite himself) and never cohabits with Tamar again.”
“According to Near Eastern custom, known from Middle Assyrian laws, if a man has no son over ten years old, he could perform the levirate obligation himself; if he does not, the woman is declared a “widow,” free to marry again.”
“A father-in-law may not sleep with his daughter-in-law (Lev 18: 15), just as a brother-in-law may not sleep with his sister-in-law (Lev 18: 16), but in-law incest rules are suspended for the purpose of the levirate.”
“His cryptic phrase, zadekah mimmeni, is often translated “she is more in the right than I” (Gen 38: 26), a recognition not only of her innocence, but also of his wrongdoing in not freeing her or performing the levirate.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘levirate’.
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Interesting words
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concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11250 more...
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Logolepsy
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Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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phrontistery - l
from phrontistery.info
labarum, labefactation, labeorphily, labidometer, labile, lability, labiomancy, labret, labrose, labtebricole, lac, laccolith and 496 more...
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Most Obscure Words
acatalectic, acosmism, acuate, acuminate, adscititious, adytum, akratisma, alieniloquy, allelomorph, allochiria, allodium, alnage and 620 more...
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Allographic Homophones
Words that can be pronounced identically but are spelled differently. I've started with unusual or extensive sets. In some of these sets, no one speaker would pronounce them all the same. I've trie...
air, are, ayr, ayre, e'er, ere, err, eyre, heir, apatite, appetite, picnic and 226 more...
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epeolatrist's list
epeolatry, syzygy, sphallolalia, lucubration, lugubrious, cacology, mellifluous, tmesis, synecdoche, anathema, eschatological, razbliuto and 349 more...
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C. S. Bird – Grandiloquent Dictionary
All the words from the Grandiloquent Dictionary.
946 of these 2700 words do not yield any results in six different dictionaries, hence many of them might be misspellings.
More in...abacinate, abcedarian, abderian, ablegate, abligurition, ablutophobia, abnormous, acarophobia, acathasia, accipitrine, accidia, accubitus and 2690 more...
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rememberers
prolix, ageusia, animadversion, anodyne, antic, arabesque, beadle, brachymetropia, colophon, desquamation, diaphoresis, diegesis and 3255 more...
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Words with highly specific meanings
Every word has a specific meaning, but some words take it a little too far.
levirate, palimpsest, solfege, sororate, apophasis, mallemaroking, tmesis, petrichor, callipygian, illeism, scrumping, sycophant and 9 more...
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Torah Words
Cool Torah words, entered throughout the year as I go week to week, parshah to parshah, starting with Vayeishev (Gen 37:10-40:23). The English will vary translation to translation, so I am using th...
harlot, sojournings, sheaves, prostrating, pasturing, pit, beast, devoured, caravan, kid, sackcloth, chamberlain and 12 more...
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Extended Family
There's an Irish joke that goes something like this. After listening to a sermon in which the priest rails on about promiscuity from the pulpit, the following exchange takes place between an elderl...
tritavus, tritavia, aval, matima, materteral, avuncular, novercal, tetnit, quatrayle, oom, nepotal, yokemate and 8 more...
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perhapsolutely's Words
polyradiculoneuro..., abulia, abubble, abscission, abaft, zareba, abatis, abigail, abiogenesis, ablate, ablaut, abo and 1705 more...
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Rashi's Daughters
New words from books II and III of Rashi's Daughters by Maggie Anton
yetzer hara, braises, herem, bouillage, kavanah, halitzah, beit din, levirate, birkhat ha-gomel, flummery, am ha-aretz, halachic and 25 more...
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