levirate marriage en · NOUN
Etymology
From levirate + marriage, from Late Latin lēvir (“husband's brother”).
Meanings
-
(countable, uncountable) A marriage in which a widow marries her late husband's brother in order to maintain the family community.
Levirate marriage protects a levir's sexual property and a dead man's entitlement. The former, however, serves the latter.
2008, Deborah L. Ellens, Women in the Sex Texts of Leviticus and Deuteronomy: A Comparative Conceptual Analysis, Bloomsbury, →ISBN, page 261:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| levirate marriages | Number=Plur | lexicographic |