Primogeniture

4 definitions found

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

  Primogeniture \Pri`mo*gen"i*ture\ (?; 135), n. [LL., fr. L.
     primus first + genitura a begetting, birth, generation, fr.
     genere, gignere, to beget: cf. F. primog['e]niture, L.
     primogenitus firstborn. See {Prime}, a., and {Genus}, {Kin}.]
     1. The state of being the firstborn of the same parents;
        seniority by birth among children of the same family.


        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Eng. Law) The exclusive right of inheritance which
        belongs to the eldest son. Thus in England the right of
        inheriting the estate of the father belongs to the eldest
        son, and in the royal family the eldest son of the
        sovereign is entitled to the throne by primogeniture. In
        exceptional cases, among the female children, the crown
        descends by right of primogeniture to the eldest daughter
        only and her issue. --Blackstone.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  primogeniture
       n : right of inheritance belongs exclusively to the eldest son

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

  51 Moby Thesaurus words for "primogeniture":
     aboriginality, age, ancien regime, ancientness, antiquity, atavism,
     bequeathal, bequest, birthright, borough-English,
     cobwebs of antiquity, coheirship, coparcenary, deanship,
     dust of ages, eld, elderliness, eldership, entail, gavelkind,
     great age, heirloom, heirship, hereditament, heritable, heritage,
     heritance, hoary age, hoary eld, incorporeal hereditament,
     inheritance, inveteracy, law of succession, legacy,
     line of succession, mode of succession, old age, old order,
     old style, oldness, patrimony, postremogeniture, primitiveness,
     primordialism, primordiality, reversion, senility, seniority,
     succession, ultimogeniture, venerableness
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  PRIMOGENITURE. The state of being first born the eldest. 
       2. Formerly primogeniture gave a title in cases of descent to the 
  oldest son in preference to the other children; this unjust distinction has 
  been generally abolished in the United States.