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usurpation: cf. F. usurpation.] [1913 Webster] 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. [1913 Webster] He contrived their destruction, with the usurpation
of the regal dignity upon him. --Sir T. More.
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A law a State which is a usurpation upon the
general government. --O.
Ellsworth.
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Manifest usurpation on the rights of other States.
--D. Webster.
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Note: Usurpation, in a peculiar sense, formerly denoted the
absolute ouster and dispossession of the patron of a
church, by a stranger presenting a clerk to a vacant
benefice, who us thereupon admitted and instituted.
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2. Use; usage; custom. Obs. --Bp. Pearson.
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Source: The Collaborative International Dictionary of English