HEIR

heir, inheritor, heritor

(noun) a person who is entitled by law or by the terms of a will to inherit the estate of another

successor, heir

(noun) a person who inherits some title or office

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Noun

heir

Someone who inherits, or is designated to inherit, the property of another.

One who inherits, or has been designated to inherit, a hereditary title or office.

A successor in a role, representing continuity with the predecessor.

Synonyms

• (one who inherits property): beneficiary (law), inheritor

• (one who inherits title): inheritor

• (successor in a role): See also successor

Verb

heir (third-person singular simple present heirs, present participle heiring, simple past and past participle heired)

(ambitransitive) To inherit.

Anagrams

• Hire, ReHi, hire, rehi

Source: Wiktionary


Heir, n. Etym: [OE. heir, eir, hair, OF. heir, eir, F. hoir, L. heres; of uncertain origin. Cf. Hereditary, Heritage.]

1. One who inherits, or is entitled to succeed to the possession of, any property after the death of its owner; one on whom the law bestows the title or property of another at the death of the latter. I am my father's heir and only son. Shak.

2. One who receives any endowment from an ancestor or relation; as, the heir of one's reputation or virtues. And I his heir in misery alone. Pope. Heir apparent. (Law.) See under Apparent.

– Heir at law, one who, after his ancector's death, has a right to inherit all his intestate estate. Wharton (Law Dict.).

– Heir presumptive, one who, if the ancestor should die immediately, would be his heir, but whose right to the inheritance may be defeated by the birth of a nearer relative, or by some other contingency.

Heir, v. t.

Definition: To inherit; to succeed to. [R.] One only daughter heired the royal state. Dryden.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

29 March 2024

FAULTFINDING

(adjective) tending to make moral judgments or judgments based on personal opinions; “a counselor tries not to be faultfinding”


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Coffee Trivia

The earliest credible evidence of coffee-drinking as the modern beverage appeared in modern-day Yemen. In the middle of the 15th century in Sufi shrines where coffee seeds were first roasted and brewed for drinking. The Yemenis procured the coffee beans from the Ethiopian Highlands.

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