Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A brother-in-law; a male relative of a man who, after the latter′ s death, has the right, and the duty, to marry his widow.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A husband's brother; -- used in reference to levirate marriages.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
husband 'sbrother .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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By the Levirate law he was therefore obliged (In a Levirate marriage-term is a derivative of the Latin word levir, meaning "husband's brother" - a woman is required to marry her deceased husband's brother.
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A moredet is defined as a married woman who refuses to have sexual relations with her husband (the most normal case), or refuses to do the assigned work of the wife (Mishnah Ketubbot 5: 5), a betrothed girl or woman whose set time for marriage has arrived and who refuses to marry, or a yevamah who refuses to undergo yibbum (levirate marriage) with the yavam (levir).
Legal-Religious Status of the Moredet (Rebellious Wife). leBeit Yoreh 2009
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However, the Bible also includes, albeit grudgingly, a move to release the levirate bride from her levir.
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This action, halizah, requires a ritual during which the reluctant levir is denigrated: his intended spits in his face and removes his shoe.
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The levir is, after all, only a surrogate for the dead husband.
Tamar: Bible. 2009
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Tractate Kiddushin opens with the acquisition of a woman in marriage (and in levirate marriage) and the release, which is through a get or the death of the husband (or in levirate marriage by the death of the levir or release through halizah), situations over which she has no control.
Legal-Religious Status of the Married Woman. leBeit Yoreh 2009
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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.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 2: Assizes-Browne 1840-1916 1913
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8. The term Levirate comes from the Latin levir husbands brother.
The Jesus Dynasty James D. Tabor 2006
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8. The term Levirate comes from the Latin levir husbands brother.
The Jesus Dynasty James D. Tabor 2006
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She is the daughter-in-law of Judah, who acquires her for his firstborn son, Er. When Er dies, Judah gives Tamar to his second son, Onan, who is to act as levir, a surrogate for his dead brother who would beget a son to continue Er’s lineage.
Tamar: Bible. 2009
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