treˈsaiel, treˈsayle Obs. exc. Hist.
Forms: 5–6 tresaill, 6 tresaioul, 7–8 tresaile, 8 tresail, 6–9 tresayle.
[AF., formed after besaiel; cf. F. trisaïeul (16th c. in Godef. Compl.), f. tri-, tri- + aïeul grandfather, aiel.]
A grandfather's grandfather; a great-great-grandfather.
| 1491 Ordin. Yarmouth in H. Swinden Gt. Yarm. (1772) 135 King Henry tresaill of our sovereigne lord the kyng that now is. 1550 J. Coke Eng. & Fr. Heralds §35. (1877) 66 His [Charlmayne's] tresaioul, named Pepyn. 1607 Cowell Interpr., Cosenage.., is a writ, that lyeth where the tresaile (that is, tritavus, the father of the besaile, or of the great grandfather) is seysed in his demesn as of fee, at the day of his death, of certaine lands or tenements, and dyeth: and then a straunger entreth and abateth. 1768 Blackstone Comm. III. x. 186 If it mounts one degree higher, to the tresayle or grandfather's grandfather,..the writ is called a writ of cosinage, or de consanguineo. |
b. writ of tresayle: see quot.
| 1772 Jacob's Law Dict. (ed. 9), Tresayle, the name of a writ, to be sued, on ouster, by abatement, on the death of the grandfather's grandfather; now obsolete. 1848 in Wharton Law Lex. |