Legacy
['legəsɪ] or ['lɛgəsi]
Definition
(n.) A gift of property by will, esp. of money or personal property; a bequest. Also Fig.; as, a legacy of dishonor or disease.
(n.) A business with which one is intrusted by another; a commission; -- obsolete, except in the phrases last legacy, dying legacy, and the like.
Inputed by Dennis
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. Bequest, devise, gift by will.
Edited by Ben
Definition
n. that which is left to one by will: a bequest of personal property.—ns. Leg′acy-hunt′er one who hunts after legacies by courting those likely to leave them; Leg′atary a legatee; Legatee′ one to whom a legacy is bequeathed.—Legacy duty a duty levied on legacies varying according to degree of relationship and reaching its maximum where the legatee is not related to the testator.—Cumulative or Substitutional legacy a second legacy given to the same person either in addition to or in place of the first; Demonstrative legacy a general legacy but with a particular fund named from which it is to be satisfied; General legacy a sum of money payable out of the assets generally; Residuary legatee the person to whom the remainder of the property is left after all claims are discharged; Specific legacy a legacy of a definite thing as jewels pictures a sum of stock in the Funds &c.
Checker: Lucy
Unserious Contents or Definition
n. A gift from one who is legging it out of this vale of tears.
Typed by Carlyle
Examples
- And she is very poor--you know Mrs. Peniston cut her off with a small legacy, after giving her to understand that she was to have everything. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- But Mr. Bruff reminded me that somebody must put my cousin's legacy into my cousin's hands--and that I might as well do it as anybody else. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- I need not narrate in detail the further struggles I had, and arguments I used, to get matters regarding the legacy settled as I wished. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- Even dear Mr. Godfrey partakes of the fallen nature which we all inherit from Adam--it is a very small share of our human legacy, but, alas! Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- Was the legacy of the Moonstone a proof that she had treated her brother with cruel injustice? Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- Provided he had made no will that can come into force, leaving a legacy to Mrs General, I am contented. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- My brother would have given up the legacy, and joyful, to escape more costs. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- The eighteenth century, keenly curious and ceaselessly active in this fascinating field of investigation, had not, after all, left much of a legacy in either principles or appliances. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- A valuable legacy indeed! Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility.
- That legacy (as the event has proved) led him to his death. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- You show such an intimate acquaintance with my affairs that I suppose you mean--till my aunt's legacy is paid? Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- What though you have found no treasure, nor has any rich relation left you a legacy? Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- After my mother's death, all was to come to me except a legacy of three hundred pounds that I was then to pay my brother. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- The ten thousand pounds was a legacy left to my excellent wife by the late Mr. Fairlie. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- I mean to GIVE you your little legacy, my dear, with my own hand. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- Accident and disease, however, are the inseparable concomitants of human existence, and suffering and pain the ineffaceable legacies of mortality. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- I should be all the better pleased if he'd left lots of small legacies. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Testamentary donations, or legacies to collaterals, are subject to the like duties. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- Bowls and Firkin likewise received their legacies and their dismissals, and married and set up a lodging-house, according to the custom of their kind. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- Did she think that only the payment of the legacies had been delayed? Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- But Miss Farish could not pause over the legacies; she broke into a larger indignation. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- If I inherit, I shall have to be careful of my figure, she mused, while the lawyer droned on through a labyrinth of legacies. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- He survived his uncle no longer; and ten thousand pounds, including the late legacies, was all that remained for his widow and daughters. Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility.
- I asked Joe whether he had heard if any of the other relations had any legacies? Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
Typed by Doreen