Category:Estate

Es*tate", n. Etym: [OF. estat, F. état, L. status, fr. stare to stand. See Stand, and cf. State.]

1. Settled condition or form of existence; state; condition or circumstances of life or of any person; situation. "When I came to man's estate." Shak. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Romans xii. 16.

2. Social standing or rank; quality; dignity. God hath imprinted his authority in several parts, upon several estates of men. Jer. Taylor.

3. A person of high rank. [Obs.] She's a duchess, a great estate. Latimer. Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee. Mark vi. 21.

4. A property which a person possesses; a fortune; possessions, esp. property in land; also, property of all kinds which a person leaves to be divided at his death. See what a vast estate he left his son. Dryden.

5. The state; the general body politic; the common-wealth; the general interest; state affairs. [Obs.] I call matters of estate not only the parts of sovereignty, but whatsoever. . . concerneth manifestly any great portion of people. Bacon.

6. pl.

Defn: The great classes or orders of a community or state (as the clergy, the nobility, and the commonalty of England) or their representatives who administer the government; as, the estates of the realm (England), which are (1) the lords spiritual, (2) the lords temporal, (3) the commons.

7. (Law)

Defn: The degree, quality, nature, and extent of one's interest in, or ownership of, lands, tenements, etc.; as, an estate for life, for years, at will, etc. Abbott. The fourth estate, a name often given to the public press.

estate Es*tate", v. t.

1. To establish. [Obs.] Beau. & Fl.

2. Tom settle as a fortune. [Archaic] Shak.

3. To endow with an estate. [Archaic] Then would I. . . Estate them with large land and territory. Tennyson.