Adjacent Words

Heir definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

HEIR, n. are. [L. haeres, haeredis.]
1. The man who succeeds, or is to succeed another in the possession of lands, tenements and hereditaments, by descent; the man on whom the law casts an estate of inheritance by the death of the ancestor or former possessor; or the man in whom the title to an estate of inheritance is vested by the operation of law, on the death of a former owner.
We give the title to a person who is to inherit after the death of an ancestor, and during his life, as well as to the person who has actually come into possession. A man's children are his heirs. In most monarchies,the king's eldest son is heir to the throne; and a nobleman's eldest son is heir to his title.
Lo, one born in my house is my heir. Genesis 15.
2. One who inherits, or takes from an ancestor. The son is often heir to the disease, or to the miseries of the father.
3. One who succeeds to the estate of a former possessor. Jeremiah 49. Micah 1.
4. One who is entitled to possess. In Scripture, saints are called heirs of the promise, heirs of righteousness, heirs of salvation, etc., by virtue of the death of Christ, or of God's gracious promises.
Heir-presumptive, one who, if the ancestor should die immediately, would be heir, but whose right of inheritance may be defeated by any contingency, as by the birth of a nearer relative.
HEIR, v.t. are. To inherit; to take possession of an estate of inheritance, after the death of the ancestor.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a person who is entitled by law or by the terms of a will to inherit the estate of another [syn: heir, inheritor, heritor]
2: a person who inherits some title or office [syn: successor, heir]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French eir, heir, from Latin hered-, heres; akin to Greek ch?ros bereaved Date: 13th century 1. one who inherits or is entitled to inherit property 2. one who inherits or is entitled to succeed to a hereditary rank, title, or office <heir to the throne> 3. one who receives or is entitled to receive some endowment or quality from a parent or predecessor • heirless adjective • heirship noun II. transitive verb Date: 14th century chiefly dialect inherit

Britannica Concise

One who inherits or is entitled to succeed to the possession of property after the death of its owner. In most jurisdictions, statutes of descent determine transfer of title to property if no will names the recipient. One may be either heir apparent or heir presumptive during the lifetime of the property holder. An heir apparent's right to an inheritance cannot be voided or undone except by exclusion under a valid will. An heir presumptive's right to inherit may be defeated by the birth of a nearer relative. In Britain, the heir apparent of the monarch is the eldest son. If there are no sons, the eldest daughter is heiress presumptive. See also primogeniture.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a person entitled to property or rank as the legal successor of its former owner (often foll. by to: heir to the throne). 2 a person deriving or morally entitled to some thing, quality, etc., from a predecessor. Phrases and idioms: heir apparent an heir whose claim cannot be set aside by the birth of another heir. heir-at-law (pl. heirs-at-law) an heir by right of blood, esp. to the real property of an intestate. heir presumptive an heir whose claim may be set aside in this way. Derivatives: heirdom n. heirless adj. heirship n. Etymology: ME f. OF eir f. LL herem f. L heres -edis

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Heir Heir, v. t. To inherit; to succeed to. [R.] One only daughter heired the royal state. --Dryden.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Heir Heir, n. [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.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(heirs) An heir is someone who has the right to inherit a person's money, property, or title when that person dies. ...the heir to the throne. N-COUNT: oft with poss, oft N to n

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Under the patriarchs the property of a father was divided among the sons of his legitimate wives (Gen. 21:10; 24:36; 25:5), the eldest son getting a larger portion than the rest. The Mosaic law made specific regulations regarding the transmission of real property, which are given in detail in Deut. 21:17; Num. 27:8; 36:6; 27:9-11. Succession to property was a matter of right and not of favour. Christ is the "heir of all things" (Heb. 1:2; Col. 1:15). Believers are heirs of the "promise," "of righteousness," "of the kingdom," "of the world," "of God," "joint heirs" with Christ (Gal 3:29; Heb. 6:17; 11:7; James 2:5; Rom. 4:13; 8:17).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

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1. The Word "Heir":

In the New Testament "heir" is the invariable translation of kleronomos (15 times), the technical equivalent in Greek, and of the compound sunkleronomos, "co-heir," in Ro 8:17; Eph 3:6; Heb 11:9; 1Pe 3:7 (in Ga 4:30; Heb 1:14, contrast the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American)). In the Old Testament "heir" and "to be heir" both represent some form of the common verb yarash, "possess," and the particular rendition of the verb as "to be heir" is given only by the context (compare e.g. the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) in Jer 49:2; Mic 1:15). Exactly the same is true of the words translated "inherit," "inheritance," which in by far the great majority of cases would have been represented better by "possess," "possession" (see INHERITANCE and OHL on ...). Consequently, when God is said, for instance, to have given Palestine to Israel as an `inheritance' (Le 20:24, etc.), nothing more need be meant than `given as a possession.' The Septuagint, however, for the sake of variety in its rendition of Hebrew words, used kleronomeo in many such cases (especially Ge 15:7,8; 22:17), and thereby fixed on `heir' the sense of `recipient of a gift from God.' And so the word passed in this sense into New Testament Greek--Ro 4:13,14; Ga 3:29; Tit 3:7; Heb 6:17; 11:7; Jas 2:5; compare Eph 3:6; Heb 11:9; 1Pe 3:7. On the other hand, the literal meaning of the word is found in Mr 12:7 (and parallels and Ga 4:1--in the latter case being suggested by the transferred meaning in 3:29--while in Ro 8:17; Ga 4:7, the literal and transferred meanings are blended. This blending has produced the phrase "heirs of God," which, literally, is meaningless and which doubtless was formed without much deliberation, although it is perfectly clear. A similar blending has applied "heir" to Christ in Heb 1:2 (compare Ro 8:17 and perhaps Mr 12:7) as the recipient of all things in their totality. But apart from these "blended" passages, it would be a mistake to think that sonship is always consciously thought of where "heir" is mentioned, and hence, too much theological implication should not be assigned the latter word.

2. Heir in Old Testament Law:

The heirs of property in the Old Testament were normally the sons and, chief among these, the firstborn.

(1) De 21:15-17 provides that the firstborn shall inherit a "double portion," whence it would appear that all the other sons shared equally. (It should be noted that in this law the firstborn is the eldest son of the father, not of the mother as in Ex 13:2.) Uncertain, however, is what De 21:15-17 means by "wife," and the practice must have varied. In Ge 21:10 the son of the handmaid was not to be heir with Isaac, but in Ge 30:1-13 the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah are reckoned as legitimate children of Jacob. See MARRIAGE. Nor is it clear that De 21:15-17 forbids setting aside the eldest son because of his own sin--compare the case of Reuben (Ge 49:3,1; 1Ch 5:1), although the son of a regular wife (Ge 29:32). The very existence of De 21:15-17, moreover, shows that in spite of the absence of formal wills, a man could control to some extent the disposition of his property after his death and that the right of the firstborn could be set aside by the father (1Ch 26:10). That the royal dignity went by primogeniture is asserted only (in a particular case) in 2Ch 21:3, and both David (1Ki 1:11-13) and Rehoboam (2Ch 11:21-23) chose younger sons as their successors. A single payment in the father's lifetime could be given in lieu of heritage (Ge 25:6; Lu 15:12), and it was possible for two brothers to make a bargain as to the disposition of the property after the father's death (Ge 25:31-34).

(2) When there were sons alive, the daughters had no right of inheritance, and married daughters had no such right in any case. (Job 42:15 describes an altogether exceptional procedure.) Probably unmarried daughters passed under the charge of the firstborn, as the new head of the family, and he took the responsibility of finding them husbands. Nu 27:1-11; 36:1-12 treat of the case where there were no sons--the daughters inherited the estate, but they could marry only within the tribe, lest the tribal possessions be confused. This right of the daughters, however, is definitely stated to be a new thing, and in earlier times the property probably passed to the nearest male relatives, to whom it went in later times if there were no daughters. In extreme cases, where no other heirs could be found, the property went to the slaves (Ge 15:3; Pr 30:23, noting that the meaning of the latter verse is uncertain), but this could have happened only at the rarest intervals. A curious instance is that of 1Ch 2:34,35, where property is preserved in the family by marrying the daughter to an Egyptian slave belonging to the father; perhaps some adoption-idea underlies this.

(3) The wife had no claim on the inheritance, though the disposition made of her dowry is not explained, and it may have been returned to her. If she was childless she resorted to the Levirate marriage (De 25:5-10). If this was impracticable or was without issue she returned to her own family and might marry another husband (Ge 38:11; Le 22:13; Ru 1:8). The inferior wives (concubines) were part of the estate and went to the heir; indeed, possession of the father's concubines was proof of possession of his dignities (2Sa 16:21,22; 1Ki 2:13-25). At least, such was the custom in the time of David and Solomon, but at a later period nothing is heard of the practice.

(4) The disposition of land is a very obscure question. Nu 36:4 states explicitly that each heir had a share, but the continual splittin up of an estate through successive generations would have produced an impossible state of affairs. Possibly the land went to the eldest born as part of his portion, possibly in some cases it was held in common by the members of the family, possibly some member bought the shares of the others, possibly the practice differed at different times. But our ignorance of the facts is complete.

NOTE.--The dates assigned by different scholars to the passages cited have an important bearing on the discussion.

Burton Scott Easton

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Inheritor, possessor by descent. 2. Offspring, child.

Moby Thesaurus

aftermath, apparent heir, backup man, beneficiary, beneficiary heir, breed, brood, children, conclusion, consequence, coparcener, descendant, descendants, descent, dynasty, effect, family, fideicommissary heir, fiduciary heir, fruit, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, heir apparent, heir expectant, heir general, heir in tail, heir of entail, heir of inventory, heir of line, heir portioner, heir presumptive, heir whatsoever, heiress, heirs, heritor, hostages to fortune, inheritor, inheritors, inheritress, inheritrix, issue, joint heir, kids, legatee, line, lineage, little ones, new generation, next in line, offspring, orphan, posterity, presumptive heir, progeny, relict, remainderman, replacement, reversioner, rising generation, seed, sequel, sons, succession, successor, survivor, treasures, widow, widower, younglings, youngsters