1. Practicing usury; taking illegal or exorbitant interest for the use
of money; as, a usurious person.
2. Partaking of usury; containing or involving usury; as, a usurious
contract.
— U*su"ri*ous*ly, adv. — U*su"ri*ous*ness, n.
U*surp" (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Usurped (?); p. pr. & vb. n.
Usurping.] [L. usurpare, usurpatum, to make use of, enjoy, get
possession of, usurp; the first part of usurpare is akin to usus use
(see Use, n.): cf. F. usurper.] To seize, and hold in possession, by
force, or without right; as, to usurp a throne; to usurp the
prerogatives of the crown; to usurp power; to usurp the right of a
patron is to oust or dispossess him.
Alack, thou dost usurp authority.
Shak.
Another revolution, to get rid of this illegitimate and usurped
government, would of course be perfectly justifiable.
Burke.
Usurp is applied to seizure and use of office, functions, powers,
rights, etc.; it is not applied to common dispossession of private
property.
Syn. — To arrogate; assume; appropriate.
U*surp", v. i. To commit forcible seizure of place, power, functions,
or the like, without right; to commit unjust encroachments; to be, or
act as, a usurper.
The parish churches on which the Presbyterians and fanatics had
usurped.
Evelyn.
And now the Spirits of the Mind Are busy with poor Peter Bell; Upon the
rights of visual sense Usurping, with a prevalence More terrible than
magic spell.
Wordsworth.
U*surp"ant (?), a. [L. usurpans, p. pr.] Usurping; encroaching. [Obs.]
Gauden.
U`sur*pa"tion (?), n. [L. usurpatio &?; making use, usurpation: cf. F.
usurpation.]
1. The act of usurping, or of seizing and enjoying; an authorized,
arbitrary assumption and exercise of power, especially an infringing on
the rights of others; specifically, the illegal seizure of sovereign
power; — commonly used with of, also used with on or upon; as, the
usurpation of a throne; the usurpation of the supreme power.
<! p. 1589 !>
He contrived their destruction, with the usurpation of the regal
dignity upon him.
Sir T. More.
A law [of a State] which is a usurpation upon the general government.
O. Ellsworth.
Manifest usurpation on the rights of other States.