usurp

USURP', v.t. s as z. [L. 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.]