escheat

[ es-cheet ]

noun
  1. Also es·cheat·ment . the reverting of property to the state or some agency of the state, or, as in England, to the lord of the fee or to the crown, when there is a failure of persons legally qualified to inherit or to claim.

  2. the right to take property subject to escheat.

verb (used without object)
  1. to revert by escheat, as to the crown or the state.

verb (used with object)
  1. to make an escheat of; confiscate.

Origin of escheat

1
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English eschete, exschete, from Old French eschete, eschaete, escheoite, feminine past participle of escheoir, from Vulgar Latin excadēre (unrecorded) “to fall to a person's share,” equivalent to Latin ex- ex-1 + cadere “to fall” (Vulgar Latin cadēre )

Other words from escheat

  • es·cheat·a·ble, adjective
  • un·es·cheat·a·ble, adjective
  • un·es·cheat·ed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use escheat in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for escheat

escheat

/ (ɪsˈtʃiːt) law /


noun
  1. (in England before 1926) the reversion of property to the Crown in the absence of legal heirs

  2. (in feudal times) the reversion of property to the feudal lord in the absence of legal heirs or upon outlawry of the tenant

  1. the property so reverting

verb
  1. to take (land) by escheat or (of land) to revert by escheat

Origin of escheat

1
C14: from Old French eschete, from escheoir to fall to the lot of, from Late Latin excadere (unattested), from Latin cadere to fall

Derived forms of escheat

  • escheatable, adjective
  • escheatage, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012