Adjacent Words

Settlement definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SET'TLEMENT, n.
1. The act of settling, the state of being settled.
2. The falling of the foul of foreign matter of liquors to the bottom; subsidence.
3. The matter that subsides; lees; dregs. [Not used. For this we use settlings.]
4. The act of giving possession by legal sanction.
My flocks, my fields, my woods, my pastures take,
With settlement as good as law can make. Dryden.
5. A jointure granted to a wife, or the act of granting it. We say, the wife has a competent settlement for her maintenance; or she has provision made for her by the settlement of a jointure.
6. The act of taking a domestic state; the act of marrying and going to housekeeping .
7. A becoming stationary, or taking permanent residence after a roving course of life.
8. The act of planting or establishing, as a colony; also, to place, or the colony established; as the British settlements in America or India.
9. Adjustment; liquidation; the ascertainment of just claims, or payment of the balance of a account.
10. Akjustment of differences; pacification; reconcisiation; as the settlement of disputes or controversies.
11. The ordaining or installment of a clergyman over a parish or a congregation.
12. A sum of money or other property granted to a minister on his ordination, exclusive of his salary.
13. Legal residence or establishment of a person in a particular parish or town, which entitles him to maintenance if a pauper, and subjects the parish or town to his support. In England, the poor are supported by the parish where they have a settlement. In New England they are supported by the town. In England, the statutes 12 Richard II. and 19 Henry VII. seem to be the first rudiments of parish settlements. By statute 13 and 14 Ch. II. a legal settlement is declared to be gained by birth, by inhabitancy, by apprenticeship, or by service for forty days. But the gaining of a settlement by so short a residence produced great evils, which were remedied by statute 1 James II.
14. Act of settlement, in British history, the statute of 12 and 13 William III. by which the crowd was limited to his present majesty's house, or the house of Orange.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a body of people who settle far from home but maintain ties with their homeland; inhabitants remain nationals of their home state but are not literally under the home state's system of government; "the American colony in Paris" [syn: colony, settlement]
2: a community of people smaller than a town [syn: village, small town, settlement]
3: a conclusive resolution of a matter and disposition of it
4: the act of colonizing; the establishment of colonies; "the British colonization of America" [syn: colonization, colonisation, settlement]
5: something settled or resolved; the outcome of decision making; "they finally reached a settlement with the union"; "they never did achieve a final resolution of their differences"; "he needed to grieve before he could achieve a sense of closure" [syn: settlement, resolution, closure]
6: an area where a group of families live together
7: termination of a business operation by using its assets to discharge its liabilities [syn: liquidation, settlement]

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 1648 1. the act or process of settling 2. a. an act of bestowing or giving possession under legal sanction b. the sum, estate, or income secured to one by such a settlement 3. a. occupation by settlers b. a place or region newly settled c. a small village 4. settlement house 5. an agreement composing differences 6. payment or adjustment of an account

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 the act or an instance of settling; the process of being settled. 2 a the colonization of a region. b a place or area occupied by settlers. c a small village. 3 a a political or financial etc. agreement. b an arrangement ending a dispute. 4 a the terms on which property is given to a person. b a deed stating these. c the amount of property given. d = marriage settlement. 5 the process of settling an account. 6 subsidence of a wall, house, soil, etc.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Settlement Set"tle*ment, n. 1. The act of setting, or the state of being settled. Specifically: (a) Establishment in life, in business, condition, etc.; ordination or installation as pastor. Every man living has a design in his head upon wealth power, or settlement in the world. --L'Estrange. (b) The act of peopling, or state of being peopled; act of planting, as a colony; colonization; occupation by settlers; as, the settlement of a new country.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(settlements) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. A settlement is an official agreement between two sides who were involved in a conflict or argument. Our objective must be to secure a peace settlement... They are not optimistic about a settlement of the eleven year conflict. N-COUNT: usu with supp 2. A settlement is an agreement to end a disagreement or dispute without going to a court of law, for example by offering someone money. She accepted an out-of-court settlement of £4,000. N-COUNT: usu with supp 3. The settlement of a debt is the act of paying back money that you owe. ...ways to delay the settlement of debts. N-UNCOUNT: usu N of n 4. A settlement is a place where people have come to live and have built homes. The village is a settlement of just fifty houses. N-COUNT: usu with supp

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Adjustment, arrangement. 2. Reconciliation, pacification. 3. Liquidation, payment, discharge. 4. Colonization. 5. Colony. 6. Ordination, installation, establishment, fixture.

Moby Thesaurus

abalienation, abatement of differences, absolute indication, absolute interest, accommodation, acquitment, acquittal, acquittance, adjustment, affirmation, agreement, alienation, ally, amortization, amortizement, anchorage, appanage, arbitration, archduchy, archdukedom, arrangement, ashram, assignation, assignment, bargain, bargain and sale, barter, benefit, bequeathal, binder, body, body politic, buffer state, burden of proof, camp, captive nation, cash, cash payment, caste, cession, chieftaincy, chieftainry, choice, city-state, claim, clan, class, clearance, clearing, closing, colonization, colony, common, commonweal, commonwealth, commune, community, composition, composition of differences, compromise, concession, conclusion, conclusive evidence, conferment, conferral, confirmation, consignation, consignment, contingent interest, conveyance, conveyancing, cop-out, country, county, damning evidence, deal, debt service, deciding, decision, deeding, defrayal, defrayment, deliverance, delivery, demise, demonstration, deposit, desertion of principle, determination, disbursal, discharge, disposal, disposition, doling out, domain, dominion, dot, dower, down payment, dowry, duchy, dukedom, earldom, earnest, earnest money, easement, economic class, elimination, empeoplement, empery, empire, encampment, endogamous group, endowment, enfeoffment, equitable interest, equity, establishment, estate, evasion of responsibility, exchange, extended family, family, fixation, foundation, free city, gens, give-and-take, giving, giving way, grand duchy, hamlet, hire purchase, hire purchase plan, holding, inauguration, incontrovertible evidence, indisputable evidence, inhabitancy, inhabitation, inhabiting, initiation, installation, installment, installment plan, interest, interest payment, investiture, investment, ironclad proof, jointure, kingdom, kinship group, land, lease and release, legal jointure, limitation, liquidation, lodgment, mandant, mandate, mandated territory, mandatee, mandatory, marriage portion, moiety, monthly payments, mooring, mutual concession, nation, nationality, never-never, nuclear family, occupancy, occupation, onus, onus probandi, order, outpost, part, paying, paying off, paying out, paying up, payment, payment in kind, payoff, peoplement, peopling, percentage, phratria, phratry, phyle, plantation, polis, polity, population, portion, possession, post, power, prepayment, principality, principate, proof, protectorate, province, puppet government, puppet regime, quarterly payments, quietus, quittance, rapprochement, realm, reconciliation, regular payments, remittance, republic, residence, resolution, retirement, right, right of entry, sale, satellite, satisfaction, sealing, selection, seneschalty, setting, settling, showdown, signature, signing, sinking-fund payment, social class, society, solemnization, sovereign nation, spot cash, stabilization, stake, state, strict settlement, subcaste, sultanate, superpower, sure sign, surrender, terms, territory, thirds, title, toparchia, toparchy, totem, trading, transfer, transference, transmission, transmittal, trust, understanding, unmistakable sign, use, vested interest, vesting, village, weekly payments, working-out, yielding