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Webster 1913 Edition


Settlement

Set′tle-ment

,
Noun.
1.
The act of setting, or the state of being settled.
Specifically: –
(a)
Establishment in life, in business, condition, etc.; ordination or installation as pastor.
Every man living has a design in his head upon wealth power, or
settlement
in the world.
L’Estrange.
(b)
The act of peopling, or state of being peopled; act of planting, as a colony; colonization; occupation by settlers; as, the settlement of a new country.
(c)
The act or process of adjusting or determining; composure of doubts or differences; pacification; liquidation of accounts; arrangement; adjustment;
as,
settlement
of a controversy, of accounts, etc.
(d)
Bestowal, or giving possession, under legal sanction; the act of giving or conferring anything in a formal and permanent manner.
My flocks, my fields, my woods, my pastures take,
With
settlement
as good as law can make.
Dryden.
(e)
(Law)
A disposition of property for the benefit of some person or persons, usually through the medium of trustees, and for the benefit of a wife, children, or other relatives; jointure granted to a wife, or the act of granting it.
2.
That which settles, or is settled, established, or fixed.
Specifically: –
(a)
Matter that subsides; settlings; sediment; lees; dregs.
[Obs.]
Fuller's earth left a thick
settlement
.
Mortimer.
(b)
A colony newly established; a place or region newly settled;
as,
settlement
in the West
.
(c)
That which is bestowed formally and permanently; the sum secured to a person; especially, a jointure made to a woman at her marriage; also, in the United States, a sum of money or other property formerly granted to a pastor in additional to his salary.
3.
(Arch.)
(a)
The gradual sinking of a building, whether by the yielding of the ground under the foundation, or by the compression of the joints or the material.
(b)
pl.
Fractures or dislocations caused by settlement.
4.
(Law)
A settled place of abode; residence; a right growing out of residence; legal residence or establishment of a person in a particular parish or town, which entitles him to maintenance if a pauper, and subjects the parish or town to his support.
Blackstone. Bouvier.
Act of settlement
(Eng. Hist.)
,
the statute of 12 and 13 William III, by which the crown was limited to the present reigning house (the house of Hanover).
Blackstone.

Webster 1828 Edition


Settlement

SET'TLEMENT

,
Noun.
1. The act of settling, the state of being settled.
2. The falling of the foul of foreign matter of liquors to the bottom; subsidence.
3. The matter that subsides; lees; dregs. [Not used. For this we use settlings.]
4. The act of giving possession by legal sanction.
My flocks, my fields, my woods, my pastures take,
With settlement as good as law can make. Dryden.
5. A jointure granted to a wife, or the act of granting it. We say, the wife has a competent settlement for her maintenance; or she has provision made for her by the settlement of a jointure.
6. The act of taking a domestic state; the act of marrying and going to housekeeping .
7. A becoming stationary, or taking permanent residence after a roving course of life.
8. The act of planting or establishing, as a colony; also, to place, or the colony established; as the British settlements in America or India.
9. Adjustment; liquidation; the ascertainment of just claims, or payment of the balance of a account.
10. Akjustment of differences; pacification; reconcisiation; as the settlement of disputes or controversies.
11. The ordaining or installment of a clergyman over a parish or a congregation.
12. A sum of money or other property granted to a minister on his ordination, exclusive of his salary.
13. Legal residence or establishment of a person in a particular parish or town, which entitles him to maintenance if a pauper, and subjects the parish or town to his support. In England, the poor are supported by the parish where they have a settlement. In New England they are supported by the town. In England, the statutes 12 Richard II. and 19 Henry VII. seem to be the first rudiments of parish settlements. By statute 13 and 14 Ch. II. a legal settlement is declared to be gained by birth, by inhabitancy, by apprenticeship, or by service for forty days. But the gaining of a settlement by so short a residence produced great evils, which were remedied by statute 1 James II.
14. Act of settlement, in British history, the statute of 12 and 13 William III. by which the crowd was limited to his present majesty's house, or the house of Orange.

Definition 2024


settlement

settlement

English

Noun

settlement (plural settlements)

  1. The state of being settled.
  2. A colony that is newly established; a place or region newly settled.
  3. A community of people living together, such as a hamlet, village, town, or city.
  4. (architecture) The gradual sinking of a building. Fractures or dislocations caused by settlement.
  5. (finance) The delivery of goods by the seller and payment for them by the buyer, under a previously agreed trade or transaction or contract entered into.
  6. (law) A disposition of property, or the act of granting it.
  7. (law) A settled place of abode; residence; a right growing out of legal residence.
  8. (law) A resolution of a dispute.

Synonyms

Hyponyms

  • See also Wikisaurus:settlement

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