birthright
(ˈbɜːθraɪt)
[f. birth n.1 + right.]
1. Right by birth; the rights, privileges, or possessions to which one is entitled by birth; inheritance, patrimony. (Specifically used of the special rights of the first-born.)
| 1535 Coverdale Gen. xxv. 31 Sell me this daye thy byrth⁓right. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, ii. ii. 62 Be we the first That shall salute our rightfull Soueraigne With honor of his Birth-right to the Crowne. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxi. 110 Their Private Inheritance and Birthright. 1718 Pope Iliad xv. 185 Our elder birthright and superior sway. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 445 The prince whom a faction..had tried to rob of his birthright. |
| attrib. 1652 T. Hodges Hoary Head Cr. 18 Jacob..got the birth-right blessing. 1810 Scott Lady of L. ii. x, In Scotland's court, thy birthright place. |
| fig. 1684 R. Waller Nat. Exper. To Rdr., Among all the Creatures of Divine Wisdom, the Birthright doubtless belongs to the Idea of Truth. |
2. Native right; lot to which birth entitles.
| 1659 Milton Civ. Power Wks. 1738 I. 555 The new Birth⁓right of every true Believer, Christian Liberty. 1719 W. Wood Surv. Trade 296 Freedom of Trade is their undoubted Birth-right. 1810 Coleridge Friend (1865) 157 The laws of the land are the birth-right of every native. 1875 Farrar Silence & V. viii. 136 Work is the best birthright which man still retains. |