to dispose of (personal property, especially money) by last will: She bequeathed her half of the company to her niece.
2.
to hand down; pass on.
3.
Obsolete. to commit; entrust.
Origin: before 1000; Middle English bequethen,Old English becwethan (be-be- + cwethan to say (see quoth), cognate with Old High German quedan,Gothic qithan)
O.E. becweðan "to say, speak to, exhort, blame," also "leave by will;" from be- + cweðan "to say," from P.Gmc. *kwethanan, from PIE *gwel-. Original sense of "say, utter" died out 13c., leaving legal sense of "transfer by will." Closely related to