Crossword clues for bequeath
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Bequeath \Be*queath"\ (b[-e]*kw[=e][th]"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bequeathed; p. pr. & vb. n. Bequeathing.] [OE. biquethen, AS. becwe[eth]an to say, affirm, bequeath; pref. be- + cwe[eth]an to say, speak. See Quoth.]
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To give or leave by will; to give by testament; -- said especially of personal property.
My heritage, which my dead father did bequeath to me.
--Shak. -
To hand down; to transmit.
To bequeath posterity somewhat to remember it.
--Glanvill. -
To give; to offer; to commit. [Obs.]
To whom, with all submission, on my knee I do bequeath my faithful services And true subjection everlastingly.
--Shak.Syn: To Bequeath, Devise.
Usage: Both these words denote the giving or disposing of property by will. Devise, in legal usage, is property used to denote a gift by will of real property, and he to whom it is given is called the devisee. Bequeath is properly applied to a gift by will or legacy; i. e., of personal property; the gift is called a legacy, and he who receives it is called a legatee. In popular usage the word bequeath is sometimes enlarged so as to embrace devise; and it is sometimes so construed by courts.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Old English becweðan "to say, speak to, exhort, blame," also "leave by will;" from be- + cweðan "to say," from Proto-Germanic *kwithan, from PIE *gwet- "to say, speak."\n
\nOriginal sense of "say, utter" died out 13c., leaving legal sense of "transfer by will." Closely related to bequest. "An old word kept alive in wills" [OED 1st ed.]. Old English bequeðere meant "interpreter, translator." Related: Bequeathed; bequeathing.
Wiktionary
vb. 1 (context legal English) To give or leave by will; to give by testament. 2 To hand down; to transmit. 3 To give; to offer; to commit.
WordNet
v. leave or give by will after one's death; "My aunt bequeathed me all her jewelry"; "My grandfather left me his entire estate" [syn: will, leave] [ant: disinherit]
Usage examples of "bequeath".
And he seized every spare moment to study the Book of Asper that his father had bequeathed to him.
Palimak had studied the ancient Book of Asper Safar had bequeathed to him long and hard.
Ali Baba was the younger of two sons, and when his father had passed from this world, the elder bequeathed all of his earthly goods upon the older of the two, whose name was Kassim.
This Groslot, whose dual position was one of the singularities of this period--when Reformers themselves owned abbeys--Groslot, the Jacques Coeur of Orleans, one of the richest burghers of the day, did not bequeath his name to the house, for in after years it was called Le Bailliage, having been, undoubtedly, purchased either by the heirs of the Crown or by the provinces as the proper place in which to hold the legal courts.
He might bequeath the sanctified waters to those who were to be baptized afterwards.
He belonged entirely to those pale haughty women to one of whom he had bequeathed his tight-lipped mouth.
Ambition nor avarice, nor yet craving after luxury, disturb their contented souls or drag them away from the non-progressive round of simple life bequeathed them by their fathers.
She made the most of the brief fluid loquaciousness the razored acid bequeathed as lure and incentive.
He had bequeathed it to Evrael, according to his eldest brother, who mentioned some passing madness about the woman Lerissa, the details of which he seemed to have forgotten.
Griesinger, Haydn bequeathed a capital of 6000 florins to this faithful servant and copyist.
His will bequeathed his kingdom to Rome, much to the chagrin of the cousins, who promptly went to war against Rome.
It was pledged to my grandfather for two hundred crowns by a knight of Malta, who soon after perished in a sea engagement with the enemies of our faith, so that it became the property of our house, and was bequeathed to me by the old gentleman, as a memorial of his particular affection.
Major of his reason for excluding them from his presence, he applauded his concern, bequeathed them to his future care, and took leave of that gentleman with a cordial embrace.
What utter folly for any public man whose position is not inherited and cannot be bequeathed to his posterity, to support the edifice of his grandeur on any other basis than the noblest virtue practised for the general good, and to suppose that he can ensure the continuance of his own fortune otherwise than by taking all precautions against sudden whirlwinds which are want to arise in the midst of a calm, and to blow up the storm-clouds I mean the host of enemies.
For my part, I confess that I am impatient to increase the store of honour which our father bequeathed to us.