[syn: fee-tail, entail]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Entail \En*tail"\, n. [OE. entaile carving, OF. entaille, F., an
incision, fr. entailler to cut away; pref. en- (L. in) +
tailler to cut; LL. feudum talliatum a fee entailed, i. e.,
curtailed or limited. See Tail limitation, Tailor.]
1. That which is entailed. Hence: (Law)
(a) An estate in fee entailed, or limited in descent to a
particular class of issue.
(b) The rule by which the descent is fixed.
[1913 Webster]
A power of breaking the ancient entails, and of
alienating their estates. --Hume.
[1913 Webster]
2. Delicately carved ornamental work; intaglio. [Obs.] "A
work of rich entail." --Spenser.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Entail \En*tail"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Entailed; p. pr. & vb.
n. Entailing.] [OE. entailen to carve, OF. entailler. See
Entail, n.]
1. To settle or fix inalienably on a person or thing, or on a
person and his descendants or a certain line of
descendants; -- said especially of an estate; to bestow as
an heritage.
[1913 Webster]
Allowing them to entail their estates. --Hume.
[1913 Webster]
I here entail
The crown to thee and to thine heirs forever.
--Shak.
[1913 Webster]
2. To appoint hereditary possessor. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
To entail him and his heirs unto the crown. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
3. To cut or carve in an ornamental way. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
Entailed with curious antics. --Spenser.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
entail
n 1: land received by fee tail
2: the act of entailing property; the creation of a fee tail
from a fee simple
v 1: have as a logical consequence; "The water shortage means
that we have to stop taking long showers" [syn: entail,
imply, mean]
2: impose, involve, or imply as a necessary accompaniment or
result; "What does this move entail?" [syn: entail,
implicate]
3: limit the inheritance of property to a specific class of
heirs [syn: fee-tail, entail]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
104 Moby Thesaurus words for "entail":
add a codicil, affect, allegorize, allude to, argue, assume,
be indicative of, be significant of, be symptomatic of, bequeath,
bequeathal, bequest, bespeak, betoken, birthright, borough-English,
bring, bring to mind, call for, cause, characterize, coheirship,
comprise, connote, contain, coparcenary, demand, denominate,
denote, devise, differentiate, disclose, display, execute a will,
express, gavelkind, give evidence, give rise to, give token,
hand down, hand on, heirloom, heirship, hereditament, heritable,
heritage, heritance, highlight, hint, identify, implicate, imply,
import, impose, incorporeal hereditament, indicate, infer,
inheritance, insinuate, intimate, involve, law of succession,
lead to, leave, legacy, line of succession, make a bequest,
make a will, manifest, mark, mean, mean to say, mode of succession,
necessitate, note, occasion, pass on, patrimony,
point indirectly to, postremogeniture, presume, presuppose,
primogeniture, require, reveal, reversion, show, signify,
stand for, subsume, succession, suggest, suppose, symptomatize,
symptomize, take, take for granted, take in, testify, transmit,
ultimogeniture, will, will and bequeath, will to