▪ I. demise, n.
(dɪˈmaɪz)
[app. of Anglo-Fr. origin: démise or desmise is not recorded in OF., but is regularly formed as the fem. n. from pa. pple. of desmettre, démettre, to send away, dismiss, refl. to resign, abdicate: cf. F. mise, remise. In English, the prefix being identical with L. de-, there is a manifest tendency to treat it as de- I. 1, as if to ‘hand down’ or ‘lay down’ were the notion.]
1. Law. Conveyance or transfer of an estate by will or lease.
| 1509–10 Act 1 Hen. VIII, c. 18 §2 All Dymyses, Leses, releses..made..by her or to her. 1587 Lady Stafford in Collect. (Oxf. Hist. Soc.) I. 210 Nor [shall] any hinderaunce growe to theim by this demize. 1638 Sanderson Serm II. 94 In a demise a man parteth with more of his interest; he transmitteth together with the possession, the use also or fruit of the thing letten or demised. 1817 W. Selwyn Law Nisi Prius (ed. 4) II. 1120 Plaintiff held by virtue of a demise. 1876 Digby Real Prop. v. §1. 206 The proper mode of granting an estate for years at common law is by words of demise followed by the entry of the lessee. |
† b. The estate demised. Obs. rare.
| a 1660 Hammond Wks. I. 725 (R.), I conceive it ridiculous to make the condition of an indenture something that is necessarily annext to the possession of the demise. |
2. Transference or devolution of sovereignty, as by the death or deposition of the sovereign; usually in phr. demise of the crown.
| [1547 Act 1 Edw. VI, c. 7 Preamb., Which Actions..by the Death or Demise of the Kings of this Realm have been discontinued. 1660 Bond Scut. Reg. 58 The King hath a perpetual succession, and never dyeth; For in Law it is called the demise of the King, and there is no Inter-regnum.] 1689 Evelyn Mem. (1857) II. 299 That King James..had by demise abdicated himself and wholly vacated his right. 1714 Swift Present State of Affairs, The regents appointed by parliament upon the demise of the crown. 1765 Blackstone Comm. I. 249 When Edward the Fourth..was driven from his throne for a few months..this temporary transfer of his dignity was denominated his demise. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 534 The unexpected demise of the crown changed the whole aspect of affairs. 1857 Sir J. F. W. Herschel Essays 615 Demise of the chair. |
3. Transferred to the death or decease which occasions the demise of an estate, etc.; hence, popularly, = Decease, death.
| 1754 Richardson Grandison (1781) I. ii. 7 Her father's considerable estate, on his demise..went with the name. 1799 Med. Jrnl. I. 206 We lament the early demise of this favourite friend of science. 1846 M{supc}Culloch Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) I. 417 To trace their lives from the moment of their birth, marking the exact period of the demise of each individual. 1878 Gladstone Prim. Homer 43 The Odyssey does not bring us to the demise of Odusseus. |
| fig. 1839 Times 13 May, After the ostensible demise of the outward cabinet. 1860 T. L. Peacock Wks. (1875) III. 473 The demise of that periodical prevented the publication. |
▪ II. demise, v.
(dɪˈmaɪz)
[f. demise n.]
1. Law. (trans.) To give, grant, convey, or transfer (an estate) by will or by lease.
| 1480 Bury Wills (1850) 64 By oure chartre beryng the date of thees presentes have dimised, assigned, deliuered..to Henri Hardman clerk, William Duffeld..the forseid maner. 1495 Act 11 Hen. VII, c. 61 §1 To lette and demyse fermes ther for the terme of vij yere and undir. 1587 Lady Stafford in Collect. (Oxf. Hist. Soc.) I. 208 Woods..to be demized to a yong man. 1661 J. Stephens Procurations 38 Afterwards Q. Eliz...did demise the said Commandery and Rectory to Dr. Forth. 1733 Neal Hist. Purit. II. 7 For demising away the Impropriations annexed to Bishopricks and Colleges. 1844 Williams Real Prop. (1877) 445 This word demise operates as an absolute covenant for the quiet enjoyment of the lands by the lessee. |
b. To convey or transfer (a title or dignity); esp. said of the transmission of sovereignty, as by the abdication or death of the sovereign.
| 1670 Cotton Espernon i. i. 37 His Majesty would have given them in Sovereignty, and have demis'd to him the Title of the Crown. 1765 Blackstone Comm. I. 249 When we say the demise of the crown, we mean only that..the kingdom is transferred or demised to his successor. 1892 G. B. Smith Hist. Eng. Parlt. II. ix. ii. 20 He therefore recommended the Convention to declare that James II had voluntarily demised the crown. |
c. intr. To pass by bequest or inheritance.
| 1823 Greville Mem. (1874) I. 64 Now arose a difficulty—whether the property of the late King demised to the King or to the Crown. |
† 2. gen. To convey, transmit; to ‘lease’. Obs.
| 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, iv. iv. 247 What Honour, Canst thou demise to any childe of mine? a 1660 Hammond Wks. IV. xiv. (R.), Upon which condition his reasonable soul is at his own conception demised to him. |
† 3. To let go: to dismiss. Obs.
| a 1541 Wyatt Defence Wks. (1861) p. xxxiv, [What] the King and his Council thought in this matter when they demised Mason at his first examination, and for the small weight there was either against him or me. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 191 a, The Thebanes he demised and let go at their libertee. c 1610–15 Lives Women Saints 141 That wearie bones may be refreshed, And wasted mindes redressed, And griefe demisd that it oppressed. |
4. intr. To resign the crown; to die, decease. rare.
| 1727 A. Hamilton New Acc. E. Ind. I. x. 103 When Shaw Abbas demised, his Son Shaw Tomas succeeded him. 1783 Cowper Lett. 31 May, The Kings..must go on demising to the end of the chapter. |
Hence deˈmised ppl. a., deˈmising vbl. n.
| 1547 in Vicary's Anat. (1888) App. iii. 131 The orderinge, bestowinge, sellinge, dymysyng..of the late parishe churches. 1587 R. Hovenden in Collect. (Oxf. Hist. Soc.) I. 211 The demising of Alsolne Colledg Woodes. 1682 Eng. Elect. Sheriffs 33 It is plainly implyed in the Demised and Confirmed things and customs. 1876 Digby Real Prop. §1. 380 To pay the rent or to repair the demised premises. |