{ Lev″i‐rate (lĕv″ĭ‐rā̍t), Lev′i‐rat″ic‐al (–răt″ĭ‐kal), } a. [L. levir a husband's brother, brother-in-law; akin to Gr. δαήρ: cf. F. lévirat 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.