† disherit, v. Obs.
(dɪsˈhɛrɪt)
Forms: 3–4 deserit(e, -yte, -et, 4 desherit(e, dysheriete, 4–5 diserit(e, -yt, dyserit, 4–7 disherite, 5–6 dis-, dysherit, -yt(e, -et(t, -eit, 4–8 disherit.
[ME. a. OF. desheriter, deseriter, -ereter, -ireter, etc., mod.F. déshériter = Pr. des(h)eretar, Sp. desheredar, Pg. desherdar, It. diseredare, med.L. disheritāre, deheritāre (Du Cange):—Rom. desheretāre, for L. *de-, *dishērēditāre, f. de- 6, dis- 4 + hērēditāre to inherit, f. hērēditās heirship, inheritance. The pa. pple. and sometimes the pa. tense had also the shortened form disherit, with the variants disherid, -ied, desered, desirit: see examples at end of the article.]
1. trans. To deprive or dispossess of an inheritance; to disinherit.
| c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 74/107 Alle oþure weren deseritede. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 1065 Dido, That euere swich a noble man as he [Eneas] Schal ben diserityd in swich degre. c 1465 Eng. Chron. (Camden) 16 Thow has thaym slayne vnrightfulli, and disherited thair heiris. 1538 Starkey England ii. ii. 196 Hyt were not mete that the father schold dysheryte hys chyld. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. Table 230 [He] rebels against his Father, is disherited by his Fathers will. 1700 Dryden Fables, Pal. & Arc. iii. 968 The dryads and the woodland train Disherited ran howling o'er the plain. |
b. Const. of (rarely from).
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 5394 He scholde..Deserite Wyder of ylka del. c 1386 Chaucer Melib. ¶869 To desherite hem of al þat euere they han. 1523 Fitzherb. Surv. Prol., Disheryted of their possessyons. 1570 T. Norton tr. Nowel's Catech. (1853) 193 Like children disherited from their father's goods. 1652–62 Heylin Cosmogr. ii. (1682) 5 Disherited of their Fathers kingdom. 1795 Southey Joan of Arc i. 172 The great and honourable men Have seized the earth, and of the heritage Which God..to all had given, Disherited their brethren! |
2. fig. To deprive, dispossess; to banish from its rightful domain (quot. 15791).
| c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xxxii. 145 Ay to þis tyme we bene in peess, of þe whilk þou will now dispoile vs and disherit vs. 1579 E. K. Ded. to Spenser's Sheph. Cal., This Poet..hath labored to restore, as to their rightfull heritage, such good and naturall English wordes, as have beene long time out of use, and almost cleane disherited. 1579 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 192 Thou art an heyre to fayre lyuing, that is nothing, if thou be disherited of learning. 1795 Coleridge Juvenile Poems (1864) 62 Made blind by lusts, disherited of soul. |
Hence disˈherited ppl. a., disˈheriting vbl. n.
| 1388 in Wyclif's Sel. Wks. III. 471 A pleynt of disherytyng of his riȝt and possessions. c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 5522 Of þair diserytyng to sees [= cease]. 1613–8 Daniel Coll. Hist. Eng. (1626) 154 The dis-herited returne answer to the Legat. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. iii. vii. §2 The premisses tend..to the disheriting of the Crown of England. |
¶ Examples of pa. pple. and pa. tense disherit, etc.
| c 1314 Guy Warw. (A.) 6164 Thurch felonie mi fader he slough, Mi brother he desirit with wough. c 1375 Lay Folks Mass Bk. (MS. B.) 379 Pore, exilde, deserit. c 1375 XI Pains of Hell 39 in O.E. Misc. 211 Þese..deseredyn treu ayrs vnryȝtfully. 1460 J. Capgrave Chron. 289 Many men were disherid of her londis. 1523 Fitzherb. Surv. Prol., Theyr heyres shuld nat be disheryt. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon lx. 210 He hath dysheryt me. |