Lev"i*rate (?), Lev`i*rat"ic*al (?), a. [L. levir a husband's brother, brother-in-law; akin to Gr. : cf. F. l'evirat leviration.]

Of, pertaining to, or in accordance with, a law of the ancient Israelites and other tribes and races, according to which a woman, whose husband died without issue, was married to the husband's brother.

The firstborn son of a leviratical marriage was reckoned and registered as the son of the deceased brother. Alford.

© Webster 1913.