disinherit, v.
(dɪsɪnˈhɛrɪt)
Also 6 disen-, dishenerite.
[f. dis- 6 + inherit v.]
trans. To deprive or dispossess of an inheritance; ‘to cut off from an hereditary right’ (J.); to prevent (a person) from coming into possession of a property or right which in the ordinary course would devolve upon him as heir.
| c 1450 Merlin 452 We hadde leuer be disinherited and chased oute of the londe. c 1532 G. Du Wes Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 1040 The sonne him shal disenherite. 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. V an. 2 (1809) 60 Shamefully to dishenerite ourselfe and the Croune of our Realme. 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. III. 820/2 Yet had he sent his people to inuade the said dukes countrie..to destroie and dishinherit the said duke. 1653 H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. xxvii. 103 A very rich Woman, that had disinherited her kindred, and left her estate to the Pagod. 1718 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to C'tess Bristol (1887) I. 240 A child thus adopted cannot be disinherited. 1860 Hook Lives Abps. (1869) I. 363 He was disinherited and turned out of his father's house. |
† b. Const. of. Obs.
| 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VII an. 4 (1809) 444 Nor yet Entended to disheneryt the yonge Duke Phillippe of his Graundfathers inheritaunce. 1621 State Trials, Abp. Abbot (R.) Some right of hunting, which the Archbishop was to disinherit his church of. a 1716 South (J.) Of how fair a portion Adam disinherited his whole posterity! |
c. fig.
| 1634 Milton Comus 334 And thou, fair moon..Stoop thy pale visage through an amber cloud, And disinherit Chaos, that reigns here. 1742 Young Nt. Th. i. 246 God's image disinherited of day, Here, plung'd in mines, forgets a sun was made. 1840 Mrs. Browning Drama of Exile Wks. 1889 I. 35 Earth, methinks, Will disinherit thy philosophy. |
Hence disinˈherited ppl. a., disinˈheriting vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1583 Exec. for Treason (1675) 42 The disinheriting of all the Nobility. 1635 Earl of Strafford Lett. (1739) I. 471 Those disinherited Princes of the Palatinate. 1777 Sheridan Sch. Scand. iv. i, An unforgiving eye, and a confounded disinheriting countenance! 1868 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) II. x. 486 A disinherited and dispossessed chieftain still looked on the land as his own. |