testament

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Something that serves as tangible proof or evidence: The spacious plan of the city is a testament to the foresight of its founders.
2. n. A statement of belief; a credo: my political testament.
3. n. Law A written document providing for the disposition of a person's property after death; a will.
4. n. Bible Either of the two main divisions of the Bible.
5. n. Archaic A covenant between humans and God.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. In law, a will; a disposition of property or rights, to take effect at death. Originally will, in English law, signified such a disposition of real property, testament such a disposition of personal property. Will now includes both, and testament is rarely used in modern law, except in the now tautological phrase last will and testament.
2. n. A disposition of the rights of two parties, defining their mutual relation, and the rights conceded by one to the other; a covenant, especially between God and his people.
3. n. Hence A dispensation: used especially of the Mosaic or old dispensation and of the Christian or new.
4. n. [capitalized] A collection of books containing the history and doctrines of each of these dispensations, and known severally as the Old Testament and the New Testament. The word testament in the authorized version of the Bible always represents the Greek word διαθήκη (elsewhere rendered ‘covenant’), which in early Christian Latin and regularly in the Vulgate is rendered ‘testamentum,’ perhaps from its use in Heb. ix. 15–20. In this passage the idea of a covenant as involving in ancient times a sacrifice with shedding of blood is blended with that of a last will made operative by the death of the testator. In Mat. xxvi. 28 and parallel passages the phrase “blood of the new testament” is connected with the cup in the Lord's Supper. In 2 Cor. iii. 14 the expression “reading of the old testament” shows the transition of meaning to our application of the title Old Testament to the Hebrew Scriptures. (Compare 1 Mac. i. 57.) When used alone the word commonly means a copy of the New Testament: as, a gift of Bibles and Testaments.

Wiktionary

1. n. law A solemn, authentic instrument in writing, by which a person declares his or her will as to disposal of his or her inheritance (estate and effects) after his or her death, benefiting specified heir(s).
2. n. One of the two parts to the scriptures of the Christian religion: the New Testament, considered by Christians to be a continuation of the Hebrew scriptures, and the Hebrew scriptures themselves, which they refer to as the Old Testament.
3. n. A tangible proof or tribute.
4. n. A credo, expression of conviction

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Law) A solemn, authentic instrument in writing, by which a person declares his will as to disposal of his estate and effects after his death.
2. n. One of the two distinct revelations of God's purposes toward man; a covenant; also, one of the two general divisions of the canonical books of the sacred Scriptures, in which the covenants are respectively revealed

WordNet 3.0

1. n. strong evidence for something
2. n. either of the two main parts of the Christian Bible
3. n. a legal document declaring a person's wishes regarding the disposal of their property when they die
4. n. a profession of belief