Noah Webster
Usurp
USURP', verb transitive s as z. [Latin usurpo.]
To seize and hold in possession by force or without right; as, to usurp a throne; to usurp the prerogatives of the crown; to usurp power. To usurp the right of a patron, is to oust or dispossess him.
Vice sometimes usurps the place of virtue.
[Usurp is not applied to common dispossession of private property.]