Heir definitions and example sentences on Wordnik

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Definitions (28)

American Heritage Dictionary (3)

noun A person who inherits or is entitled by law or by the terms of a will to inherit the estate of another.
noun A person who succeeds or is in line to succeed to a hereditary rank, title, or office.
noun One who receives or is expected to receive a heritage, as of ideas, from a predecessor.

Century Dictionary (21)

One who inherits, or has a right of inheritance in, the property of another; one who receives, or is entitled to receive, possession of property or a vested right on the death of its owner, either as his natural or as his legal successor. West-mynster lawe, ich wot wel worcheth the contrarie: For thauh the fader be a frankelayne and for a felon be hanged, The heritage that the air sholde haue ys at the kvnges wille. Piers Plowman (C), xi. 240. The nation looked kindly on the one sound administrator left, and the more so perhaps when they saw in him the rightful heir to the throne. Stubbs, Const. Hist., § 347.
Technically, in law, the person upon whom the law casts an estate in real property immediately on the death of the ancestor, as distinguished from one who takes by will as a legatee or devisee, and from one who succeeds by law to personal property as next of kin. The same person who is heir when considered with reference to realty is often also next of kin when considered with reference to personalty: and where a testator's will disposes of part only of his realty, the same person who takes under the will as devisee may also take an undisposed-of part as heir. In this sense the word as used at common law does not include a widow on whom the law casts an estate in dower, or a husband on whom the law casts an estate by the courtesy, for these are considered new estates, arising out of marriage and its incidents, and carved out of the fee, not as a continuation or devolution of the fee itself. If there be dower or courtesy, the heir is that person who takes immediate title to the fee, subject to such life-estate. In legal phrase heir and heir at law are commonly used in England in the singular, because the general rule of descent there has given the entire estate to the eldest male. The singular is also not uncommonly used in the United States to designate whoever may be entitled, whether one or more, because of English usage, and because appropriate in all cases where there is but one standing in the nearest degree to the deceased. General heirs may be in either the ascending or descending line: for example, a father or grandfather might be a general heir to the last owner, as well as a son or a grandson. “Collateral heirs” are those deriving their descent through some stock in the ascending line: for instance, a brother as a son of the common father, or an uncle as the son of the common grandfather, or a sister, or an aunt, or a cousin. “Heirs in tail” can only be in the descending line. L. A. Goodeve, Modern Law of Real Property, p. 61. It is a settled principle of law that the legal rights of the heir or distributee to the property of deceased persons cannot be defeated except by a valid devise of such property to other persons. Chief Justice Ruger, 105 New York Reports, 193.
In a broader sense, in those jurisdictions where the distinction between realty and personalty is disregarded, the person entitled by law to succeed one dying in respect of either kind of property, as distinguished from those taking by will. In jurisdictions where the distinction is preserved, a testamentary gift of personalty, expressed to be to one's heirs, is commonly understood to intend his next of kin.

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When he died, these factions - taking advantage of the fact that his heir was a minor - would choose to interpret his intentions with regard to religious policy for their own ends, with disastrous consequences for England. — TheChildrenof
Mary was determined to bring Elizabeth back into the Catholic fold, for it was unthinkable that her heir should be a Protestant. — TheChildrenof
To my misfortune the heir was here and spoiled my plans. — The Pharaoh and the Priest An Historical Novel of Ancient Egypt
The girl whom he chose to call his heir was really the owner of Blent Are you going to ask us to the funeral?" — Tristram of Blent An Episode in the Story of an Ancient House
This sum would be equivalent to three hundred thousand, perhaps four hundred thousand pounds in our time If the heir were a female, the king was entitled to offer her any husband of her rank he thought proper; and if she refused him, she forfeited her land. — The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.I., Part A. From the Britons of Early Times to King John

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Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

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successor · descendant · nephew · daughter · lord · cousin · mistress · offspring · monarch · grandson · representative · heiress

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heir: heirs

Etymologies (3)

American Heritage Dictionary (1)

Middle English, from Anglo-Norman, from Latin hērēs; see ghē- in Indo-European roots.

Century Dictionary (2)

from Middle English heire, heyre, also, and orig., without the silent h, eir, eyr, ayer, etc., from Old French heir, eir, later hoir, oir, French hoir = Provencal her = Italian erede, from Latin hēres (improperly written hæres, rarely ēres) (hērēd-), an heir, akin to hĕrus, ĕrus, master, hir = Greek χείρ, the hand, Sanskrit √ har, take, seize. Hence (from Latin hēres) English hereditary, etc., heritable, heritage, etc., inherit, etc.
from heir, n.

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