be·queath

[bih-kweeth, -kweeth]
verb (used with object)
1.
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)

be·queath·a·ble, adjective
be·queath·al, be·queath·ment, noun
be·queath·er, noun
un·be·queath·a·ble, adjective
un·be·queathed, adjective


1. will, impart, leave, bestow, grant, consign.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source Link To bequeaths
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Bequeaths is always a great word to know.
So is interrobang. Does it mean:
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.
Collins
World English Dictionary
bequeath (bɪˈkwiːð, -ˈkwiːθ) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
vb
1.  law Compare devise to dispose of (property, esp personal property) by will
2.  to hand down; pass on, as to following generations
 
[Old English becwethan; related to Old Norse kvetha to speak, Gothic qithan, Old High German quethan]
 
be'queather
 
n
 
be'queathal
 
n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

bequeath
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
bequest. "An old word kept alive in wills" [OED 1st ed.]. O.E. bequeðere meant "interpreter, translator."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Example sentences
The buck, when dying, bequeaths the portions of his body to different departments of the kitchen service.
He bequeaths a church which shows no sign of bowing out or running out of steam.
Only idiots escape entirely from the world that the past bequeaths.
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