Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Inheritance

In-her′it-ance

,
Noun.
[Cf. OF.
enheritance
.]
1.
The act or state of inheriting;
as, the
inheritance
of an estate; the
inheritance
of mental or physical qualities.
2.
That which is or may be inherited; that which is derived by an heir from an ancestor or other person; a heritage; a possession which passes by descent.
When the man dies, let the
inheritance

Descend unto the daughter.
Shakespeare
3.
A permanent or valuable possession or blessing, esp. one received by gift or without purchase; a benefaction.
To an
inheritance
incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away.
1 Pet. i. 4.
4.
Possession; ownership; acquisition.
“The inheritance of their loves.”
Shak.
To you th’
inheritance
belongs by right
Of brother's praise; to you eke 'longs his love.
Spenser.
5.
(Biol.)
Transmission and reception by animal or plant generation.
6.
(Law)
A perpetual or continuing right which a man and his heirs have to an estate; an estate which a man has by descent as heir to another, or which he may transmit to another as his heir; an estate derived from an ancestor to an heir in course of law.
Blackstone.
☞ The word inheritance (used simply) is mostly confined to the title to land and tenements by a descent.
Mozley & W.
Men are not proprietors of what they have, merely for themselves; their children have a title to part of it which comes to be wholly theirs when death has put an end to their parents' use of it; and this we call
inheritance
.
Locke.

Webster 1828 Edition


Inheritance

INHER'ITANCE

,
Noun.
An estate derived from an ancestor to an heir by succession or in course of law; or an estate which the law casts on a child or other person, as the representative of the deceased ancestor.
1.
The reception of an estate by hereditary right, or the descent by which an estate or title is cast on the heir; as, the heir received the estate by inheritance.
2.
The estate or possession which may descend to an heir, though it has not descended.
And Rachel and Leah answered and said, is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house? Gen.31.
3.
An estate given or possessed by donation or divine appropriation. Num.26.
4.
That which is possessed or enjoyed.
Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance. Ps.2.

Definition 2024


inheritance

inheritance

English

Alternative forms

Noun

inheritance (countable and uncountable, plural inheritances)

  1. The passing of title to an estate upon death.
  2. (countable) That which a person is entitled to inherit, by law or testament.
  3. (biology) The biological attributes passed hereditarily from ancestors to their offspring.
  4. (programming, object-oriented programming) In object-oriented programming, the mechanism whereby parts of a superclass are available to instances of its subclass.

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Translations

References

  • inheritance” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).