levirate

1. (countable) A marriage between a widow and her deceased husband's brother or, sometimes, heir.countable

2. (anthropology) The institution of levirate marriage.Examples: "And it is, he says, impossible not to believe that the Levirate—that is, the practice of marrying a dead brother's widow—is derived from polyandry."; "It is only a secondary purpose of the levirate that the property of the deceased passes on to the one who is heir to his name, and is probably a later accretion."; "The levirate is found in patrilineal societies in which the bride marries into her husband's family while essentially severing her ties with her original family."