▪ I. estate, n.
(ɪˈsteɪt)
Forms: 3 aestat, 4–6 astat(e, 4–5 estat, (4 astaat(e, -tait, estaat(e, 6 esstat, estatt, 6–7 Sc. estaite, -tte), 4– estate; pl. 3 astaz, aestaz. Cf. astate and state.
[a. OF. estat (= Pr. estat, Sp. and Pg. estado, It. stato), ad. L. status state, f. stā-re to stand.]
1. a. State or condition in general, whether material or moral, bodily or mental. In ME. occas.: Constitution, nature. arch.; now almost exclusively in Biblical phrases.
| c 1230 Hali Meid. 13 Þis mihte..i þis deadlich lif scheaweð in hire estat of þe blisse undeadlich. c 1340 Cursor M. 1587 (Trin.) Þat god not myȝt Brynge mon..Into þe astate þat he had tynt. c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. v. vi. 171 Lat vs loken now as we mowen whiche þat þe estat is of þe deuyne substance. 1395 E.E. Wills (1882) 4 In hool estat of my body. 1486 Bk. St. Albans C j a, Sum put hawkys in mew at high estate. Ibid. C iij a, Ye se yowre hawke may not endew her meete nor remounte her astate. 1490 Caxton Eneydos xiv. 50 Alle the werkes are taryed and lefte in the astate of inperfection. 1519 Interl. Four Elements in Hazl. Dodsley I. 11 Each element I reduce to his first estate. 1549 Thomas (title), The History of Italye..because it intreateth of the astate of many and divers commonweales. 1563 Shute Archit. D iv a, In Italie are these pillers founde standing in good estate. 1605 Lond. Prodigal i. i. 224, I hope he died in good estate. 1614 Raleigh Hist. World v. i. §10. 574 He arrives in safety at Carthage, and makes them know the estate of Lilybæum. 1624–47 Bp. Hall Rem. Wks. (1660) 2 A Physician..enquiring of her estate. 1630 Earl Dorchester in Ellis Orig. Lett. ii. 268. III. 262 The Queene..is in good estate. 1662 Bk. Com. Prayer (Pickering 1844) 56 We pray for the good estate of the Catholick Church. 1676 Grew Anat. Plants, Lect. ii. (1682) 241 There is some kind of Alkaline Salt in Plants even in their natural estate. 1794 S. Williams Vermont 154 The savages of North America were sunk into the lowest estate of filth. 1844 Kinglake Eöthen xxvi. (1878) 341 Their second estate would be worse than their first. 1868 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) II. ix. 402 The wall, in its first estate, seems to have been merely a dyke of earth and rough stones. 1873 Browning Red Cott. Nt.-Cap 219, I am forty-three years old; In prime of life, perfection of estate. |
b. A special state or condition; a condition of existence. Also in estate = in existence. Obs. exc. in man's estate, woman's estate = manhood, womanhood, and (arch.) in the (holy) estate of matrimony.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 178 Sik mon haueð two swuðe dredfule aestaz: þet on is hwon he ne iveleð nout his owune sicknesse. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 125 Prol., Fforgetyn hadde the erthe his pore estat O wyntyr. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 374/1 She was in the estate of vyrgynyte, in estate of maryage, in estate of wydowhede. 15.. Adam Bel & Clym of Clough 665 in Ritson Anc. Pop. Poetry 30 When he commeth to mannes estate. 1541 R. Copland Galyen's Terap. 2 C j, The fyrste..doth away the dysease that is present. And the other w{supt}standeth the dysease that is nat yet in estate. 1594 Hooker Eccl. Pol. i. xv, In regard of a future estate hereafter necessary to be knowne. 1744 E. Heywood Female Spect. (1748) II. 23 A gentleman in the western parts of England had two daughters at marriage estate. |
† c. in estate [= Fr. en état (de)]: in a position, able (to do something). Obs. rare.
| 1651 Hist. Don Fenise 40 She took Felix by the hand, and put him in estate to come to the point of his desires. |
† d. Good or normal condition. in his estate: just as he was. out of estate: ‘out of condition’.
| c 1400 Rom. Rose 4675 Thou Art so anguisshous and mate, Disfigured oute of astate. 1447–8 J. Shillingford Lett. (Camd. Soc.) 37 Stondyng yn his astate ayenst the fire. c 1460 Towneley Myst. 104 My belly farys not weylle, it is out of astate. 1578 Lyte Dodoens i. lxi. 88 The floures do not lightly perishe or vade, but may be kept a long time in their estate, and colour. 1587 Fleming Contn. Holinshed. III. 1351/2, I found the good prince laid in his estate. |
† e. ? State of privilege or advantage. Obs.
| 1628 Wither Brit. Rememb. ii. 119 Knew I not the Christian Man's estate Extended further than to contemplate. 1633 G. Herbert Temple 54 Mans whole estate Amounts (and richly) to serve thee. |
† f. An account of the state or condition of anything; a ‘statement’ of particulars. Obs.
| 1474 Househ. Ord. 22 For the contentement of his house⁓hold royal and creditors thereof, as is expressed before in the estate of this seyd court for the yere, xiii Mol [i.e. 13,000l.]. 1484 Paston Lett. No. 880 III. 311 The seid John requerith an astate to be takyn in those londys lymyted to William the sone for deffaut off issue off Clement Paston. 1502 Arnolde Chron. (1811) 285 The sayd Cardinal hath yow bounde aparte to make him a sure astate of alle the said landes, by Ester next comyng. |
2. a. Condition with respect to worldly prosperity, fortune, etc. Cf. 12. arch.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 17321 (Cott.) Do hym by kept in presoners estate Till yt be past our sabate. c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 68 Noon estat [v.r. astate, estaat, estate] assureth to be weel. ? 1370 Robt. Cicyle 54 Hym to brynge to lowar estate. a 1400 Cov. Myst. 61 A ryght pore man..Of sympyl astat in clothis rent. 1447 O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 9 In poure astate and in low degre. a 1535 More De quat. Noviss. Wks. 86/1 Yet thou wouldest not greatly enuy his estate, if thou thoughteste, etc. 1662 Bk. Com. Prayer (Pickering 1844) 56 Any ways afflicted or distressed in mind, body, or estate. 1671 tr. Frejus' Voy. Mauritania 7 Made a slave..and detained in that estate till our arrival. 1846 Keble Lyra Innoc. (1873) 192 From ox and ass that wait Here on His poor estate. a 1862 Buckle Civiliz. (1869) III. i. 1 One of the greatest nations of the earth, was broken, and cast down from its high estate. |
† b. ? Means, ability, opportunity. In phrase, after (one's) estate. Obs.
| c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. II. 409 Þei shulen lyve as þe world axiþ and take gladnesse of þe world aftir her astaat. c 1430 Syr Tryam. 469 Every man lovyd hym aftur ther estate. c 1510 Virgilius in Thoms Prose Rom. 21 Remus toke with hym manye folke after his estate. 1545 Brinklow Lament. (1874) 88 Thou must be diligent dayley to helpe thyne neyghbour acordinge to thyne estate. |
3. a. Status, standing, position in the world; degree of rank; esp. exalted rank or dignity. Also in phr. man, etc. of estate. arch.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 160 Ant te eadie Johan in onliche stude, þer ase he was, þeos þreo astaz of-earnede him one. c 1340 Cursor M. 6949 (Trin.) His fadris astate he [eliazar] bere Til Iosue we speke of here. c 1368 Chaucer Compl. Pite 41 Wisdome, estaat, drede and gouernaunce. 1413 Lydg. Pilgr. Sowle iv. xxix. (1859) 61 Of this statua or ymage it is, that men of hyhe power ben cleped men of estate. 1432 Paston Lett. No. 18 I. 34 Suche persones as for..their estate, owe of reson to be suffred to speke with the king. c 1450 Bk. Curtasye 276 in Babees Bk., Ȝe be bothe of on astate. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 201/3, I had the estate of a clerke in the chyrche. c 1500 Lancelot 543 So cam ther in an agit knyght, and hee Of gret esstat semyt for to bee. 1531 Elyot Gov. i. i, All the inhabitantes of a realme..of what astate or condition so euer they be. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. ii. ix. 41 O, that estates, degrees, and offices, Were not deriu'd corruptly. 1611 Bible Transl. Pref. 1 If any man conceit, that Princes are priuiledged by their high estate, he is deceiued. |
† b. A definite position in life; an occupation. Obs. rare. [A usual sense of Fr. état.]
| 1685 Petty Will p. xi, Those who have been bred to no calling nor estate. |
† c. ellipt. = person or persons of estate. Obs. (Cf. similar use of dignity.)
| 1399 Langl. Rich. Redeles Prol. 82 Þe story is of non estate þat stryuen with her lustus. a 1483 Liber Niger in Househ. Ord. 32 Knyghts or other wurshypfull astate for the towell. 1509 Fisher Wks. 144 The crummes that fall vnder the bordes of lordes or grete estates. 1530 Proper Dyaloge (1863) 9 Bothe comones and estates none excepte. 1611 Bible Mark vi. 21 Herod..made a supper to his lords, high captaines, and chiefe estates of Galilee. 1634 R. H. Salerne Regim. 88 Let them [eels] be drest with Galendine..as great Estates Cookes are wont to doe. |
† 4. a. Outward display of one's condition; grandeur, pomp, state. Obs. exc. arch. (poet.)
| c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 1034 Dido, This frosche lady..Stod in the temple in hire estat ryal. c 1386 ― Sqr.'s T. 18 And kepte alwey so wel roial estat. 1393 Gower Conf. III. 299 He..cast about his eye, And sigh the lordes in estate. a 1483 Liber Niger in Househ. Ord. 19 In the festyvall dayes or when astate should be shewed. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xxiii. 495 Soo shall I gyve theym landes ynoughe for to mayntene theyr astate. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. I. i. 384 Thou..by my side shalt sit in such estate That, etc. |
† b. Retinue. Obs.
| c 1500 Melusine 50 Honourably might a kinge with alle his estate haue be Receyued therat. |
c. cap of estate (Her.): see cap n.1 4 f (c). † chair, cloth, cup, horse, place, robe, throne, etc. of estate = chair, etc. of state. Obs.
| 1423 Jas. I Kingis Q. xciv, In a cheire of estate besyde..There sawe I sitt the blynde god Cupide. 1555 Fardle Facions i. v. 56 [The Kinge] put on some robe of estate. 1579 Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 33 He..gaue him wine to drink in cups of estate. 1586 Marlowe 1st Pt. Tamburl. v. ii, Mount up your royal places of estate. 1599 Hakluyt Voy. II. 62 His imperiall throne of estate. 1632 Lithgow Trav. iv. 140 Who inthronized himself, in the Persian Chair of Estate, Anno 1030. 1653 H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. lx. 246 Covered overhead with three cloths of Estate. 1662 Ogilby King's Coronation (1685) 2 The Duke of Albemarle, Master of the Horse, on Horseback, leading a Horse of Estate. 1844 Disraeli Coningsby i. iv, There he stood..in his robes of estate. 1864 Boutell Heraldry Hist. & Pop. xxiv. 413 Ensigned by a cap of estate of very large dimensions. |
† d. ellipt. A canopy, chair, dais, fold of ‘state’. to lay, make (an) estate: to make a fold of the cloth, in token of respect, opposite the king's seat.
| c 1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture 192 in Babees Bk., Ley estate with the vpper part [of the cloth] þe brede of half fote is greable. 1494 Househ. Ord. 119 On that side make an estate with his rodd; & then goeing before the kinge doeing his reverence, & soe make another estate on the other side of the king. 1513 Bk. Keruynge in Babees Bk. 268 And laye estat with the vpper parte halfe a fote brode. 1587 Fleming Contn. Holinshed III. 1490/1 My lord before the estate of his majestie knighted a Dutch gentleman, called Sir Martin Shinke. 1603 Drayton Bar. Wars vi. lv, The Queen..sat under an Estate of Lawne. 1605 Journ. Earl Nottingh. in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) I. 560 The two virgins near her, and the other six upon the degrees at the foot of the estate. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1673) 128 Princes..sitting upon their estate. |
† 5. A class, order, rank in a community or nation. all estates: all sorts of people. Obs.
| 1530 Palsgr. Introd. 1 Unto the nobilite..and..unto all other estates of this my natyfe countrey. 1577 J. Northbrooke Dicing (1843) 36 Vice raigneth too, too much amongst al estates and degrees. 1590 Recorde, etc. Gr. Artes (1646) 183 This Rule is..profitable for all estates of men. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, iii. vii. 213 We know your tendernesse of heart..to all Estates. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 126 A fit estate there is besides in great request, and namely of Philosophers and Religious. 1643 Milton Divorce Introd. (1851) 3 Filling each estate of life and profession, with abject and servil principles. |
6. a. An order or class regarded as part of the body politic, and as such participating in the government either directly or through its representatives.
The number of ‘estates’ in most of the nations of Christendom has usually been three (exceptionally four, as in Sweden and Aragon), but the specific enumeration has varied considerably. In England the ‘estates’ as represented in Parliament were originally 1. Clergy; 2. Barons and Knights; 3. Commons; after various fluctuations, the final arrangement was 1. Lords Spiritual; 2. Lords Temporal; 3. Commons. In France the three estates were 1. Clergy; 2. Nobles; 3. Townsmen. The Scottish estates were at first 1. Prelates; 2. Tenants in Chief; 3. Townsmen; after 1428 they were 1. Lords, lay and clerical; 2. Commissioners of Shires; 3. Burgesses. For a full account of the matter see Stubbs Const. Hist. xv.
third estate was formerly common (now much less so) as a designation of the English ‘commons’ or (transl. Fr. tiers état) the French bourgeoisie before the Revolution. The other two ‘estates’ are seldom spoken of numerically.
| [c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 184 Þer ben in þe Chirche þre states þat God haþe ordeyned, state of prestis and state of knyȝtis, and þe þridd is staat of comunys.] 1425 Sc. Acts Jas. I (1597) 7 It is ordaned be the King, be consent and deliuerance of the three Estaites, that, etc. c 1460 Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. (1714) 73 The Gabell of the Salte, and the Quaterymes of the Wynys, war granted to the Kyng, by the three Estats of Fraunce. 1489 Caxton Faytes of A. i. v. 10 He shal assemble to counseil the foure estates of his contree. 1494 Fabyan vii. 500 The thre astates of his realme, that is to meane the spiritualtie, the lordes and nobles, and the hedes or rulers of cyties. 1547 J. Harrison Exhort. Scottes F iij b, This was done in Parliamente, by consente of the thre estates. 16.. Proclam. Jas. I in Examiner 5 Oct. (1812) 626/2 A sufficient and well composed House, such as may be worthy to be a representative of a third estate of our kingdom. 1681 Nevile Plato Rediv. 98 Which Deputies are now called the third Estate. 1765 T. Hutchinson Hist. Col. Mass. iv. 419 Any step towards forming themselves into a church estate. 1794 J. Gifford Reign Louis XVI, 350 The instructions of the clergy coincided with those of the nobility and Third Estate. 1827 Hallam Const. Hist. (1876) I. ii. 73 The fall of the mitred abbots changed the proportions of the two estates which constitute the upper house of parliament. 1850 Gladstone Glean. (1879) V. xx. 185 The concessions of the spiritual estate of the realm. 1875 Stubbs Const. Hist. II. xv. 184 It was not by any means clear, at the end of the reign of Edward I, that they [the smaller land⁓owners] might not furnish a fourth estate of Parliament. |
b. pl. An assembly of the governing classes or their representatives. estates-general (in France): see States-General.
| 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 1326 The Estates of the united Provinces..resolved to make a league with the Turke. 1628 tr. Camden's Hist. Eliz. ii. (1688) 226 The Estates camp at Rimenant. 1684 Scanderbeg Rediv. iii. 44 The Estates being Assembled in the Castle of Warsaw. 1827 Scott Napoleon Introd., The Estates-General of France met at Versailles on the 5th May, 1789. 1845 S. Austin Ranke's Hist. Ref. I. 359 The emperor could come to no agreement with the Estates. 1875 Stubbs Const. Hist. II. xv. 163 An assembly of Estates is an organised collection, made by representation or otherwise, of the several orders, states or conditions of men who are recognised as possessing political power. |
¶ 7. a. the (three) estates of the realm (see 6) has often been misused to denote the three powers whose concurrence is necessary for legislation, viz. the Crown, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons.
Perh. Aylmer (quot. 1559) took the word in sense 8, as he argues that the three forms of government, monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy, are united in the English constitution.
| 1559 J. Aylmer Harb. Faithf. Subjects H iij, In the parliament hous..you shal find these 3 estats. The king or Queene which representeth the Monarchie. The noble men which be the Aristocratie. And the Burgesses and Knights the Democratie. 1648 Dk. Ormond Let. in Milton Observ. Art. Peace, The three estates of king, lords, and commons, whereof in all ages parliaments have consisted. a 1745 Swift Lett. (1768) IV. 279 An assembly of the three estates is not properly of Gothick institution. 1769 Lett. Junius xvii. 75 Not..any one, or any two, of the three estates have power to make a new law, without the concurrence of the third. 1819 Syd. Smith Wks. (1859) I. 282/1 The king, four aristocratical assessors, and the assembly of captains, are the three estates of the Ashantee government. 1887 Pall Mall G. 8 June 3/2 Mr. Bryce's accuracy is at fault when he tells us that the Canadian Parliament, ‘like its model in Westminster, is made up of the three estates, the Queen and the two Houses’. |
b. the fourth estate: (a) formerly in various jocular applications (see quots.); (b) now appropriated to the Press.
We have failed to discover confirmation of Carlyle's statement (quot. 1841) attributing to Burke the use of this phrase in the application now current. A correspondent of Notes & Queries (1st Ser. XI. 452) states that he heard Brougham use it in the House of Commons in 1823 or 1824, and that it was at that time treated as original.
| 1752 Fielding Covent-Garden Jrnl. 13 June No. 47 Wks. (1806) X. 80 None of our political writers..take notice of any more than three estates, namely, Kings, Lords, and Commons..passing by in silence that very large and powerful body which form the fourth estate in this community..The Mob. Ibid. 83 Nor hath this estate..been unknown to the other three. 1821 Hazlitt Table Talk vi. 115 He [Cobbett] is a kind of fourth estate in the politics of this country. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. vi. v, A Fourth Estate, of Able Editors, springs up. 1841 ― Hero-worship, Lect. v, Burke said there were three Estates in Parliament, but in the Reporters' Gallery..there sat a fourth Estate more important far than they all. 1854 Knight Once upon a Time II. 20 Hackney-chairman..belonged to what Fielding termed ‘The Fourth Estate’. That dignity is now assigned to the Press. 1870 Sir H. Lytton Bulwer Life Palmerston II. ix. 119 note, At that period the ‘Times’ constituted a fourth estate of the realm. 1885 Harper's Mag. Mar. 647/1 A power which calls itself the Fourth Estate of the realm. |
c. the fifth estate: in various applications (see quots.).
| 1932 Times Educ. Suppl. 7 May 157/2 Small wonder that radio has been called ‘the fifth estate’. 1955 Times 14 July 8/1 Unions were now the fifth estate of the realm, Mr. Tiffin continued, and when they wanted a shorter week they would go to the employers and tell them to give it to them. |
† 8. Political constitution, form of government. [Cf. état 8 in Littré.] Obs.
| 1559 [see 7]. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 76 The whole estate of that great empire..was almost utterly subverted. 1614 Raleigh Hist. World ii. 493 Alcamenes governed Sparta; after whom the Estate changed, according to Eusebius. [Often in Raleigh.] 1670 Milton Hist. Eng. v. (1851) 190 When God hath decreed servitude on a sinful Nation, fitted by their own vices for no condition but servile, all Estates of Government are alike unable to avoid it. |
† 9. Administration of government; in phrases, affairs, etc. of estate, Secretary of Estate. Obs. Now state.
| 1599 Hakluyt Voy. II. 175 Our Secretarie of estate. 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. i. ii. 9 Such Popes..proceed vpon truer principles of Estate than those which haue ascended to the Papacie from an education and breeding in affairs of Estate. 1651 Reliq. Wotton. 360 The Cavalier Vieta, his principall Secretary of Estate. 1679 E. Everard Prot. Princes Europe 26 That which..did happen upon this Error of Estate to the Imperial House of Austria. |
† 10. A body politic, a kingdom or commonwealth; = state. Obs.
| 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. i. vii. 33 Then should people and Estates be happy when either Kings were Philosophers, or Philosophers Kings. 1750 Beawes Lex Mercat. (1752) 7 The merchants which trafficked in the interior parts of their estates. |
11. Law. a. The interest which any one has in lands, tenements, or any other effects; often with qualifying words or phrases, as an estate upon condition, estate in fee, estate for life, estate of inheritance, tail, estate from year to year, estate at will, etc. real estate, an interest in landed property; personal estate, an interest in movables; but the phrases are often regarded as signifying the respective kinds of property. See also fee, tail, etc.
| 1439 E.E. Wills (1882) 119 They that haue..estate in my land to the execucion of this my last will. c 1462 Paston Lett. No. 461 II. 114 Your seid besecher had non astate in the seid maners. 1592 W. West Symbol. B iiij §39 An Estate..is that right and power whereby we haue the propertie or possessions of things. 1650 Bury Wills (1850) 226 My brother Butts Bacon, whom I haue intrusted with the estate of the house or cottage in which the said Norton now liveth. 1756 W. Toldervy Two Orphans IV. 265 The good gentleman at the Abbey, who has left you his real estate. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §75 Her estate in the Lighthouse was only for life. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) I. 70 All inferior estates and interests in land are derived out of the fee simple. 1845 Polson in Encycl. Metrop. 829/1 An estate from year to year may arise..from that general letting heretofore held to constitute an estate at will. 1876 Digby Real Prop. i. 43 The tenant is conceived as having only an estate in the lands—an interest which..was some⁓thing short of absolute ownership. |
† b. to make an estate of (a thing) to (a person): to give an interest in, a legal right or title to. Obs.
| 1415 E.E. Wills (1882) 25, I wolle that my feoffes mak estat to..my sone, of Thattely and Farley. 1520 Sir R. Elyot Will in Elyot's Gov. (1883) I. App. 314 To make astate in fee to two other discrete persones. 1588 Wills & Inv. N.C. (1860) II. 256 note, Whereas I haue made an estatt unto Robert Selbye..of my tenement or burgage. 1621 Bolton Stat. Irel. 400 (Act 28 Eliz.), The rebels..did make..secret and fraudulent estates and conveyances of their lands. a 1626 Bacon Max. & Uses Com. Law 56 Where a man maketh an estate of his land to others, by fine, feofment, or recovery. |
12. a. Property, possessions, fortune, capital. Cf. 2. arch. in gen. sense.
| 1563 Homilies ii. Agst. Wilful Rebell. ii. (1859) 565 Hazarding the whole estate of our Country. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. i. i. 43 Nor is my whole estate Vpon the fortune of this present yeere. 1627–77 Feltham Resolves i. xxxi. 54 What do we, but like foolish merchants, venture all our estate in a bottom? 1644 Evelyn Mem. (1857) I. 90 The marchands..have..little or no extent of ground to employ their estates in. c 1665 Mrs. Hutchinson Mem. Col. Hutchinson 14 The large estate he reaped by his happy industry. 1690 Locke Govt. i. iv. §42 'Twould always be a Sin in any Man of Estate, to let his Brother perish. 1697 Potter Antiq. Greece iii. xviii. (1715) 142 It was frequent for Men of Estates to rig out Ships at their own Expence. 1730 Young Ep. to Pope i. (R.), One loses his estate, and down he sits, To show (in vain) he still retains his wits. 1762 J. Brown Poetry & Mus. viii. (1763) 161 The Bards had estates settled on them, that they might be free from worldly Cares. 1847 Emerson Repr. Men, Napoleon Wks. (Bohn) I. 381 France served him with life, and limb, and estate. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 308 The greatest estates in the kingdom then very little exceeded twenty thousand a year. 1878 Ouida Friendship I. vii. 70 They were very poor and of no great estate. |
b. Accounts. The collective assets and liabilities of a person (esp. of a deceased person, a bankrupt, a cestui que trust) viewed as an entity capable of owing or being entitled to money, of being solvent or insolvent. Phrase, to wind up an estate. (By accountants often used in somewhat wider sense: The ‘affairs’ of a client so far as the accountant is concerned with them.)
Possibly this sense may be historically connected with 1 f, a ‘ledger account’ being spoken of in book-keeping as a creditor or debtor; but evidence is wanting.
| 1830 M{supc}Culloch Princ. Pol. Economy (ed. 2) 268 The bankrupt is entitled to a reasonable allowance out of his effects..if his estate pay 10s. in the pound, he is to be allowed 5 per cent. Mod. Newspaper It takes 10{pmil} of the assets of a fifty-pound estate to pay for the Board of Trade stamps. |
13. a. A landed property; usually, one of considerable extent. (Now the commonest sense.) spec. a property on which a crop, as rubber, tea, etc., is cultivated; also, a vineyard. Freq. preceded by a defining word.
| 1760–72 tr. Juan & Ulloa's Voy. (ed. 3) I. vi. 311 When the wind blows from that quarter the weather is so sharp, that the rich families..retire to their estates, situated in a warmer air. 1772 Ann. Reg. 177/2 Her Ladyship had 10,000l. left her by her father, and an estate of 7000l. per annum. 1784 Cowper Task iii. 755 Estates are landscapes, gazed upon awhile, Then advertised, and auctioneered away. 1794 Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho i, And retired to a small estate in Gascony. 1847 James J. Marston Hall x, He intended to send some one to his estates in Brittany. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 151 The public charges can no longer be borne by the estates of the crown. 1851 C. Redding Hist. Mod. Wines (ed. 3) vi. 158 The value of wine estates is very considerable in this department [sc. the Gironde]. 1855 Tennyson Maud i. i. v, Lord of the broad estate and the Hall. 1862 in C. Tovey Wine & Wine Countries iv. 142 That wine is..possessed of finesse, delicatesse, and bouquet, which are quite peculiar to the estate. 1878 E. Money Cultiv. & Manuf. Tea (ed. 3) i. 2 Making..1,000 acres the outside area..that should ever have been purchased for any one estate. Ibid. ii. 11 Coolies are well treated on Tea estates. 1911 Encycl. Brit. XXVI. 480/1 The finest teas are produced at high elevations in Darjeeling and Ceylon..but the quality from individual estates varies much from season to season. Ibid. XXVIII. 721/2 The yield of the principal estates of the Médoc are kept distinct and reach the consumer as the products of a particular growth and of a particular year. 1911 Stevens & Beadle Rubber ii. 13 Sometimes the rubber plants are set amongst matured coffee or tea, with the idea of..gradually transforming a tea or coffee estate into a rubber estate. 1916 P. Schidrowitz Rubber (ed. 2) iv. 26 The working expenses of an estate containing say 10,000 to 15,000 trees. 1921 A. L. Simon Wine & Wine Trade vii. 86 All Clarets which have a claim to a more or less high degree of excellence are too proud of their birthright not to go into the world under their own name—the name of the estate or château whence they came. 1965 T. Eden Tea (ed. 2) i. 3 From the progeny of the plants thus raised the first estate was planted in 1891. Ibid., In 1924 a commercial estate was established near Tukuyu. Ibid. vii. 69 The ideal conditions on a tea estate would be to have no bare soil but a moderate growth of weeds. 1968 Krug & De Poerck World Coffee Survey v. 374 The Coffee Board annually collects data from a representative set of estates. |
b. = housing estate.
| [1906 W. A. Harvey Model Village 13 Nearly all the old trees and woodland on the Estate have been preserved. Ibid. 68 The planning and working out of the Bourneville Estate.] 1915 G. Cadbury Town Planning iv. 68 In laying out estates it is advisable to plan the roads so that they do not form through routes for traffic. Ibid., Other road problems are practically confined to estate development. 1923 E. Bowen Encounters 142 Their house was among the first two or three on a new estate. 1939, 1958 [see council (housing) estate s.v. council 17]. 1960 C. S. Lewis Studies in Words i. 13 When I was a boy estate had as its dominant meaning ‘land belonging to a large landowner’, but the meaning ‘land covered with small houses’ is dominant now. 1970 Woman 14 Nov. 76/4 Till my Dad died we lived in a council house, but then we moved into a larger estate house and my mother became very snobbish. |
14. attrib. and Comb.: estate-owner; estate agent, one who acts as steward or manager of a landed estate; one who conducts business in the sale of houses and land; hence estate agency; estate-bottled a., (of a wine) bottled at the vineyard of its growth; estate car, a light saloon motor car spec. constructed or adapted to carry both passengers and goods; also ellipt.; estate duty, a graduated charge levied by the State on real or personal property at the death of the owner; estate management, the art of administering an estate (sense 13 or 13 b); hence estate-manager; estate wagon = estate car.
| 1912 Estate Agents, Architects & Surveyors (Pitman's Shorthand) 5 The *Estate Agency profession. |
| 1880 Harper's Mag. Sept. 565 ‘*Estate agent?’ he next asked. 1884 The ‘Estate Agent’ 3 House and Estate Agents. 1886 S. W. Mitchell R. Blake xx. 188 It seemed to her natural that an unknown Yankee estate-agent should wish to marry a woman of assured social place. |
| 1940 H. J. Grossman Guide to Wines 378/2 *Estate-bottled, wine bottled by the vineyard owner or producer. 1959 Times 21 Sept. 13/2 High prices for estate-bottled wines. |
| 1950 Motor Industry July 118/2 (heading) Latest car price list... Standard... Vanguard saloon..*Estate car. 1958 Times 1 July 6/6 The Hillman Minx..has its own estate car version. 1961 Ibid. 5 Oct. 11/4 Enter the swish new Anglia Estate. 1966 Guardian 19 Oct. 9/3 Both the saloon and the estate carry 5 in comfort. |
| 1889 Act 52 Vict. c. 7 §5, *Estate Duty on personal property passing by will or on intestacy. 1896 Act 59 & 60 Vict. c. 28 §16 The estate duty payable in respect of any annuity. |
| 1915 G. Cadbury Town Planning v. 89 Town Planning is..*estate management on a large scale. 1921 in Jeffery & Neville House Property 92 The London University now grants a Degree in Estate Management. 1937 Discovery Sept. 268/1 Industrial management needs sound traditions just as much as estate management or the professions. 1962 H. R. Loyn Anglo-Saxon England iv. 146 A little treatise on eleventh-century estate management. |
| Ibid. ix. 370 *Estate-managers to look after the lands of the church. |
| 1937 Discovery May 164/1 Rich *estate owners in Brazil, Peru and Nicaragua. 1962 H. R. Loyn Anglo-Saxon England i. 16 Their eponymous Gallo-Roman estate-owners. |
| 1959 M. Steen Tower i. vii. 91 There was an *estate wagon and a couple of big private cars. |
▪ II. estate, v.
(ɪˈsteɪt)
[f. prec. n.]
1. trans. To put (a person) into an estate; to give (a person) an estate or possession, or a secured position, in (a thing); to endow with (possessions). Rare in mod. use.
| 1609 G. Benson Serm. 26 Salomons outlandish women..so much estated themselves in the bosom of the king, that they drew him and his people to idolatry. 1611 Dekker Roaring Girle Wks. 1873 III. 225 Estate him In those possessions, which your loue and care Once pointed out for him. 1639 J. Mayne City-Match v. v, I have estated her in all I have. 1670 Walton Lives i. 22, [I] will quit my Benefice, and estate you in it. 1823 Lamb Let. to Southey xiii. 125 In what possession has not this last name alone estated me. 1859 Tennyson Lancelot & Elaine 1312 Then would I..Estate them with large land and territory. 1887 Sat. Rev. 24 Sept. 413 His country seat at Wootton, wherein Mr. Zabriskie has surely estated Rousseau somewhat at the cost of one Mr. Davenport. |
† 2. To furnish with an estate or property. lit. and fig. Obs. See also estated ppl. a.
| 1625 Donne Serm. cl. VI. 63 And in the Resurrection [we are] Estated and put in possession of his Kingdom. 1625 Fletcher Fair Maid Inn iii. i, This puppy being left well estated, comes to Florence. 1646 Buck Rich. III, ii. 55 Cruell Lords estated onely by their unjust Armes. 1653 Bp. Hall Christ Mysticall §2. 6 Our faith..must shew us..how royally we are allied, how gloriously estated. |
† 3. To bestow or settle as an estate on or upon (also rarely unto) a person. Also, to estate out: to let out. Obs.
| 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. i. i. 98 And all my right of her, I do estate vnto Demetrius. 1622–62 Heylyn Cosmogr. ii. (1682) 88 There was nothing left of the ancient Saxony to be estated upon Bernard of Anhalt. Ibid. iii. (1673) 211 1 The whole Land being also his, he estates it out for no term certain. a 1669 Bp. King Poems iii. xv. (1843) 109 Till he estate his vertue on his son. |
† 4. To put into a certain state or condition. Sometimes with allusion to sense 1. Obs.
| 1605 Heywood If you know not me Wks. 1874 I. 238 Convert her foes; estate her in true peace. a 1626 Bp. Andrewes Serm. (1641) 389 Hee liveth..to estate us in this life in the hope of a reversion. 1640 Fuller Joseph's Coat (1867) 66 By faith and repentance we are first estated in God's favour. 1701 Beverley Glory of Grace 16 It cannot be suppos'd such High Angelical Beings..should be so Estated in him and by him, under an Ignorance of him. |