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entail

 - 6 dictionary results

en⋅tail

  [v. en-teyl; n. en-teyl, en-teyl]
Use entail in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
1. to cause or involve by necessity or as a consequence: a loss entailing no regret.
2. to impose as a burden: Success entails hard work.
3. to limit the passage of (a landed estate) to a specified line of heirs, so that it cannot be alienated, devised, or bequeathed.
4. to cause (anything) to descend to a fixed series of possessors.
–noun
5. the act of entailing.
6. the state of being entailed.
7. any predetermined order of succession, as to an office.
8. something that is entailed, as an estate.
9. the rule of descent settled for an estate.
Origin:
1350–1400; ME entailen (v.), entail (n.). See en- 1 , tail 2

Related forms:
en⋅tail⋅er, noun
en⋅tail⋅ment, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To entail
en·tail   (ěn-tāl', ĭn-)   
tr.v.   en·tailed, en·tail·ing, en·tails

  1. To have, impose, or require as a necessary accompaniment or consequence: The investment entailed a high risk. The proposition X is a rose entails the proposition X is a flower because all roses are flowers.

  2. To limit the inheritance of (property) to a specified succession of heirs.

  3. To bestow or impose on a person or a specified succession of heirs.

n.  

    1. The act of entailing, especially property.

    2. The state of being entailed.

  2. An entailed estate.

  3. A predetermined order of succession, as to an estate or to an office.

  4. Something transmitted as if by unalterable inheritance.


[Middle English entaillen, to limit inheritance to specific heirs : en-, intensive pref.; see en-1 + taille, tail; see tail2.]
en·tail'ment n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

entail 
c.1340, "convert (an estate) into 'fee tail' (feudum talliatum)," from en- "make" + taile "legal limitation," especially of inheritance, ruling who succeeds in ownership and preventing it from being sold off, from Anglo-Fr. taile, from O.Fr. taillie, pp. of taillier "allot, cut to shape," from L.L. taliare. Sense of "have consequences" is 1829, from notion of "inseparable connection."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Legal Dictionary

Main Entry: en·tail
Pronunciation: in-'tAl
Function: transitive verb
Etymology: Middle English entaillen, from en-, causative prefix + taille restriction on inheritance —see TAIL
: to make (an estate in real property) a fee tail : limit the descent of (real property) by restricting inheritance to specific descendants who cannot convey or transfer the property entailed entire on the eldest male heir —Benjamin Franklin> — —en·tail·ment noun

Main Entry: entail
Function: noun
1 : an act or instance of entailing real property; also : the practice of entailing property entail would prevent the accumulation and perpetuation of wealth in select families —Thomas Jefferson> —see also De Donis Conditionalibus in the IMPORTANT LAWS section
2 : an entailed estate in real property entails had not become barrable —Eileen Spring>
3 : the fixed line of descent of an entailed estate
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Encyclopedia

entail

in feudal English law, an interest in land bound up inalienably in the grantee and then forever to his direct descendants. A basic condition of entail was that if the grantee died without direct descendants the land reverted to the grantor. The concept, feudal in origin, supported a landed aristocracy because it served to prevent the disintegration of large estates through divisible inheritance or the lack of heirs. Statutory reforms in England now permit the owner to convey the entailed land by a simple deed and even by will

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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