INHERITANCES
Noun
inheritances
plural of inheritance
Source: Wiktionary
INHERITANCE
In*her"it*ance, n. Etym: [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.
Shak.
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 Spenser.
5. (Biol.)
Definition: Transmission and reception by animal or plant generation.
6. (Law)
Definition: 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.
Note: 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.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition