▪ I. probate, n.
(ˈprəʊbeɪt, -ət)
Also 5–8 -bat.
[ad. L. probāt-um a thing proved, subst. use of pa. pple. neut. of probāre to prove: see next.]
† 1. The act of proving or fact of being proved; that which proves; proof, demonstration; evidence, testimony. Obs.
| 1534 Cov. Corp. Chr. Plays ii. 109 Whatt maner a wey They haue made probate of this profece. 1610 Boys Exp. Dom. Epist. & Gosp. Wks. (1629) 80 Abraham assuredly beleeued God before, but his offering vp of Isaac was a greater probate of his faith. 1711 in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 187 There are innumerable proofs of this position..among them our late monarch stands a monumental probat. 1842 G. S. Faber Prov. Lett. (1844) I. 150 Here, then,..we have another probate of the object of the Tract-School. |
† b. A putting to the test, experiment. Obs. rare.
| a 1643 J. Shute Judgem. & Mercy (1645) 9 As I would not incourage you upon the long-suffering of God, to make a probate, and triall of his patience. |
2. Law. The official proving of a will; also, the officially verified copy of the will together with the certificate of its having been proved, which are delivered to the executors.
| 1463 Bury Wills (Camden) 43, J wil it be wretyn..in the rolle that my testement and last wil is in, aftir the probat be maad. 1530 Tindale Pract. Prelates K ij b, The hypocrites..made a reformacyon of mortuaries and probates of testamentes. 1590 Swinburne Testaments 224 The iudge doth therupon..annex his probate and seale to the testament, whereby the same is confirmed. 1660 R. Coke Power & Subj. 118 The Probate of Wills, and letters of Administration are determinable by the Civil Law. 1768 Blackstone Comm. III. vii. 96 We find it..asserted..that it is but of late years that the church hath had the probate of wills. 1846 M{supc}Culloch Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) II. 303 The Lordship of Newry; the proprietor of which holds his spiritual court, and grants marriage licenses and probates of wills, under the seal of the religious house to which the lordship belonged before the Reformation. 1872 Beeton's Everybody's Lawyer 472 An executor, upon obtaining probate, is not required to enter into a bond. |
b. attrib. Probate Act, an English statute passed in 1857 (20 & 21 Vict. c. 77), by which the jurisdiction of matters of probate and administration was removed from ecclesiastical and other courts and transferred to a new Court of Probate. probate bond, a bond in which an administrator other than an executor gives a guarantee that he will administer the estate in accordance with the will or with the law of intestate succession. probate court, a court having jurisdiction of probate and administration. probate duty, ‘a tax upon the gross value of the personal property of a deceased testator’ (Wharton Law Lex.): since 1894 merged in the estate duty. probate judge, a judge having jurisdiction in probate and testamentary causes; hence probate judgeship. † probate law, the law of the ecclesiastical probate court (obs.).
| c 1400 Beryn 2069 They were grete Seviliouns, & vsid probate law; Wher, evir-more affirmatyff shuld preve his owne sawe. 1845 M{supc}Culloch Taxation ii. vi. §3 (1852) 305 The holders of personal property are..entitled to require, either that the probate and legacy duties should be abolished, or that they should be extended to real property also. 1863 W. Phillips Speeches vii. 154 Probate judges are the guardians of widows and orphans. 1872 Beeton's Everybody's Lawyer 473 A non-executor is required to enter into a probate bond. 1898 Whitaker's Alm. 430/2 Estate Duty: In the case of every person dying after 1st August, 1894 (prior to which date Probate, Affidavit, or Inventory Duty is payable). 1901 Ann. Rep. Incorp. Law Soc. 24 Probate engrossments as well as the probate piece were to be on paper. |
▪ II. † probate, ppl. a. Obs. rare.
[ad. L. probāt-us tried, proved, pa. pple. of probāre to prove.]
Proved, demonstrated. Also (quot. 1513) of a person: Having received proof; confirmed or established in a belief; convinced.
| c 1500 Joseph Armathy (W. de W.) 2 The veray true and probate assercyons of hystoryal men touchynge and concernynge thantyquytes of..Glastenburye. 1513 Bradshaw St. Werburge i. 1114 Vulfade, conforted and in the fayth probate, Fell downe to his fete. 1621 T. Williamson tr. Goulart's Wise Vieillard 84 If daily experience did not make it manifest and probat vnto vs. |
▪ III. probate, v.
(ˈprəʊbeɪt)
[f. ppl. stem of L. probāre to prove: see prec.]
† 1. trans. (proˈbate) To prove. Obs. rare—0.
| 1570 Levins Manip. 39/38 To Probate, probare. |
2. To obtain probate of, to prove (a will). Chiefly U.S. Hence ˈprobating vbl. n.
| 1792 N. Chipman Amer. Law Rep. (1871) 52 C's will has never been probated. 1837 Dickens Pickw. lv, ‘Vy not!’ exclaimed Sam,—‘'cos it must be proved, and probated, and swore to, and all manner o' formalities.’ 1889 Proc. N. Eng. Hist. Geneal. Soc. 2 Jan. 20 Wills..probated as early as 1373. 1892 Blackw. Mag. CLI. 622 The contests over the probating of wills reveal too often the unscrupulous, blackhearted ingratitude of children. |
3. U.S. To place (a convicted person) on probation. Hence ˈprobated ppl. a., of or pertaining to a sentence of probation.
| 1961 in Webster. 1972 N.Y. Times 3 Nov. 42/1 [He] was given a 10-year probated sentence. 1977 Time 19 Sept. 38/2 That was when he announced that ‘whether women like it or not, they are sex objects’ as he set free on a probated sentence a 15-year-old youth who had raped a 16-year-old coed in a high school stairwell. |