Definition of "levirate" [lev•i•rate]

• The practice of marrying the widow of one's childless brother to maintain his line, as required by ancient Hebrew law. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "This is referred to as a levirate marriage, and it's still in healthy practice today (see HBO's Deadwood, again, not exactly the same thing)."
• "The object of the book has been supposed by some to be to commend the so-called levirate marriage."
• "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."