| 释义 |
usurpation|juːzɜːˈpeɪʃən|
[a. OF. and AF. usurpacion (F. usurpation), ad. L. ūsūrpātiōn-, ūsūrpātio, n. of action f. ūsūrpāre: see usurp v. Cf. It. usurpazione, Sp. usurpacion, Pr. -cioun, Pg. usurpação.]
I.
1. Claim or assertion that is unwarranted or unauthorized; unjustified assumption, arrogation, or pretension.
1387–8T. Usk Test. Love i. ix. (Skeat) l. 117 Their name of godliheed, they [sc. devils] han by usurpacion, as the prophete sayth [etc.]. 1426Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 17716 Fyrst, ageynes al resoun, I wolde, by vsurpacioun, Fro poynt to poynt in ech degre, The zodyak sholde obeye me. 1622Malynes Anc. Law-Merch. 4 The Customes of Merchants concerning trafficke,..when they are not truely obserued in some places, by some errour or misprision,..loose their names, and are called Vsurpation. 1650Bulwer Anthropomet. 203 She might the better conceal her usurpation and counterfeit manhood. 1727De Foe Syst. Magic i. i. (1840) 20 As he usurped divine honours, so he made a figure suitable to his usurpation. a1854H. Reed Lect. Brit. Poets i. (1857) 18 The sovereignty of even Homer or Shakspeare could hold no exclusive usurpation.
2. The action of usurping, illegally seizing, or wrongfully occupying some place or property belonging to a person or persons; unlawful encroachment upon or intrusion into the office, right, etc., of another or others; unjust or illegal possession. Also personif.
c1420Lydg. Assembly of Gods 661 Vsurpacion, with Horryble Vengeaunce, Came alther last of that company. 1480Acta Dom. Conc. (1839) 74/2 Þe vsurpacion and purprisioun done in þe takin vp of þe malis of þe samyn landis. 1573Extr. Aberd. Reg. (1848) II. 10 The usurpatioune of the preuilegeis of the burght. 1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxii. §22 Considering that the worke of externall ministerie in Baptisme is only a preeminence of honor, which they that take to themselues..doe,..by meanes of such vsurpation, incurre the iust blame of disobedience to the Law of God. 1654Bramhall Just Vind. i. (1661) 2 Whatsoeuer the Popes of Rome gained upon us..was meer tyranny and usurpation. 1692Dryden Disc. Satire Ess. (ed. Ker) II. 88 The usurpation of that prince upon their freedom. 1766J. Z. Holwell Orig. Princ. Anc. Bramins ii. iv, [Men] do, by the force of their tyrannic usurpation, labor to make their [sc. the animals'] state more miserable. 1784Cowper Task v. 760 Ye will not find..A liberty like his, who, unimpeach'd Of usurpation, and to no man's wrong, Appropriates nature as his father's work. 1817Jas. Mill Brit. India II. iv. v. 199 The servants of the Company were now vested with a right to that plentiful source of gain, in which they had hitherto participated only by usurpation. 1819Scott Ivanhoe xliv, I will appeal to Rome against thee..for usurpation on the immunities and privileges of our Order. 1837H. Martineau Soc. Amer. II. 80 The United States having furnished the means by which the usurpation of Texas has been achieved.
fig. and transf.1655in Verney Mem. (1907) II. 24 There is a soveranity in honour which noe usurpation can depose. 1900‘J. Doe’ Bridge Man. 18 If the usurpation of your right to double make no difference to the original lead.
b. esp. The unlawful or forcible seizure or occupation of a throne, sovereign power, etc.; wrongful assumption of supreme authority.
1470Rolls of Parlt. V. 456/2 Edward.., late by usurpacion Kyng of England. 1485Ibid. VI. 276/1 Callinge and nameinge hymself, by usurpacion, King Richard the iiid. 1578T. N. tr. Conq. W. India 77 Those Princes began their usurpation by way and colour of Religion. 1595Shakes. John ii. i. 9 To rebuke the vsurpation Of thy vnnaturall Vncle, English Iohn. 1610Holland Camden's Brit. i. 725 The violent usurpation of Henry the Fourth. 1683Brit. Spec. 64 This Power he got by Usurpation, and not by any Election of..the People. 1729T. Innes Crit. Essay (1879) 402 This leaves no room for his expedition.., either before or after his usurpation. 1776Gibbon Decl. & F. xii. I. 330 Florianus shewed himself unworthy to reign, by the hasty usurpation of the purple, without expecting the approbation of the senate. 1791Burke Corr. (1844) III. 282 The assembly cannot annihilate the constitutional states. It is itself an usurpation, and its acts are void. 1844H. H. Wilson Brit. India III. 189 He also calculated upon..the co⁓operation of a strong party inimical to the usurpation. 1856N. Brit. Rev. XXVI. 289 This government of generals, successively ruling..by forcible usurpation. 1877Froude Short Stud. (1883) IV. i. ii. 19 The usurpation of Stephen had left behind it a legacy of disorder.
c. With a and pl.: An act of usurping another's rights, privileges, etc.; an instance of encroachment on or upon (liberty, etc.).
16..Rowley Birth Merl. iv. iii. 14 Vort. The Saxons which thou broughtst To back thy usurpations, are grown great. 1638R. Baker tr. Balzac's Lett. (vol. II) 3 This so tyrannical an usurpation upon the liberty of mens spirits. 1679C. Nesse Antichrist 213 The corruptions and usurpations of Antichrist. 1721Bolingbroke in Swift's Lett. (1766) II. 41 Exercising an insolent and cruel usurpation over their brethren. 1757in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. I. 217 What he called Our Usurpations in America. 1771Goldsm. Hist. Eng. III. 250 The depression of the nobility as a necessary consequence of the popular usurpations on the crown. 1823Tonstall's Serm. Palm Sund. Pref. 2 The bondage of a baneful and preposterous usurpation on the liberties of mankind. 1863H. Cox Instit. i. vii. 82 Usurpations of unconstitutional powers by the House of Commons.
d. transf. Physical encroachment on sea or land. rare.
1553Brende Q. Curtius 41 b, The Tyrians deuined that Neptune reuenging the vsurpacion that the Macedons had made vpon the sea, would shortely destroy the worcke. 1597Shakes. Hen. IV, i. i. 63 So lookes the Strond, when the Imperious Flood Hath left a witnest Vsurpation.
3. Eccl. Law. The action on the part of a stranger of dispossessing a lawful patron of the right of presenting a cleric to a benefice.
1596Bacon Max. Com. Law (1630) 2 So if I be seised of an advouson in gross, and an vsurpation bee had against mee, and at the next avoidance I vsurpe arere, I shall be remitted. 1628Coke On Litt. 277 b, When an estranger that no right hath presenteth to a Church, and his Clarke is admitted and instituted, hee is said to bee an vsurper, and the wrongfull act..is called an Usurpation. 1701W. Watson Clergyman's Law 89 By Usurpation the rightful Patron may be divested of the possession of his Advowson. a1733Raymond Reports (1743) 953 If a purchaser of an advowson in fee-simple, before any presentment, suffer an usurpation. 1768Blackstone Comm. III. 242 Another species of injury, called usurpation; which is an absolute ouster or dispossession of the patron. 1877F. G. Lee Gloss. Liturg. & Eccl. Terms 432 No usurpation can displace the estate or interest of any patron, nor turn it to a mere right.
†4. Usurpatory rule or power. Obs. rare.
1654tr. Scudery's Curia Pol. 125 To re-conquer Amuraths Usurpation, and attain to the King my Fathers Throne. 1667Milton P.L. ii. 983 If I that Region lost, All usurpation thence expell'd, reduce To her original darkness and your sway. 1761Hume Hist. Eng. II. xxiii. 67 The duke..attempted to overthrow that usurpation which he himself had so zealously contributed to establish.
b. the usurpation, the period of the Commonwealth (commonwealth 4).
[1664G. Fell in Extr. St. Papers Friends Ser. iii. (1912) 227 Seduced into that Phanatique opinion of the Quakers in the late time of Vsurpation.] 1682in Scottish Antiq. July (1901) 4 The tyme of the late rebellione and wsurpatione. 1727Swift Lett. Eng. Tongue Wks. 1755 II. i. 187 During the usurpation, such an infusion of enthusiastic jargon prevailed in every writing, as [etc.]. 1782Pennant Journ. Chester to Lond. 235 On the usurpation, he had the meanness to sit in Cromwell's mock parlement. 1829Scott Hrt. Midl. Note R, He afterwards advanced {pstlg}20,000 for the service of King Charles, during the usurpation.
†5. Roman Law. Interruption of usucapion.
1676R. Dixon Two Testaments 551 A wife: not a Concubine, might be taken by use; for a whole un-interrupted year without usurpation.
II.
6. The action of taking into use or making use of a thing; acceptance or agreement in the use of anything; usage, employment.
1583Fulke Def. Tr. Script. 160 Which worde [sc. priests] is taken vp by common vsurpation, to signifie sacrificers. 1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xix. (Arb.) 250 By common vsurpation, nothing is wiser then the Serpent, more couragious then the Lion, more bewtifull then the Angell. 1611J. Guillim Heraldry vi. v. 269 No man had his Badge set on a Wreath vnder the degree of a Knight: But..time and vsurpation concurring with prescription, hath so much preuailed, as that [etc.]. 1659Pearson Creed 252 There can be no kind of certainty in any such observations of the Articles, because the Greeks promiscuously often use them, or omit them, without any reason of their usurpation or omission.
†b. A special use of a word or expression. Obs.
1644Bulwer Chirol. To Rdr. A 6 b, Humane literature, wherein..I shall lay claime to all metaphors, proverbiall translations or usurpations.
Hence usurˈpationist, one who advocates usurpation. Also attrib.
1899R. Wallace G. Buchanan iii. 58 A principle..subversive of the despotic doctrine of the Divine right of Kings, so prevalent in usurpationist quarters in that day. |