Heirloom

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Heirloom \Heir"loom`\, n. [Heir + loom, in its earlier sense of
     implement, tool. See {Loom} the frame.]
     Any furniture, movable, or personal chattel, which by law or
     special custom descends to the heir along with the
     inheritance; any piece of personal property that has been in
     a family for several generations.


     [1913 Webster]
  
           Woe to him whose daring hand profanes
           The honored heirlooms of his ancestors.  --Moir.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  heirloom
       n 1: (law) any property that is considered by law or custom as
            inseparable from an inheritance is inherited with that
            inheritance
       2: something that has been in a family for generations

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  25 Moby Thesaurus words for "heirloom":
     bequeathal, bequest, birthright, borough-English, coheirship,
     coparcenary, entail, gavelkind, heirship, hereditament, heritable,
     heritage, heritance, incorporeal hereditament, inheritance,
     law of succession, legacy, line of succession, mode of succession,
     patrimony, postremogeniture, primogeniture, reversion, succession,
     ultimogeniture