a piece of landed property, esp. one of large extent with an elaborate house on it: to have an estate in the country.
2.
Law.
a.
property or possessions.
b.
the legal position or status of an owner, considered with respect to property owned in land or other things.
c.
the degree or quantity of interest that a person has in land with respect to the nature of the right, its duration, or its relation to the rights of others.
d.
interest, ownership, or property in land or other things.
e.
the property of a deceased person, a bankrupt, etc., viewed as an aggregate.
3.
British. a housing development.
4.
a period or condition of life: to attain to man's estate.
5.
a major political or social group or class, esp. one once having specific political powers, as the clergy, nobles, and commons in France or the lords spiritual, lords temporal, and commons in England.
6.
condition or circumstances with reference to worldly prosperity, estimation, etc.; social status or rank.
7.
Obsolete. pomp or state.
8.
Obsolete. high social status or rank.
–verb (used with object)
9.
Obsolete. to establish in or as in an estate.
[Origin: 1175–1225; ME estat < MF; c. Pr estat.See state]
c.1225, from Anglo-Fr. astat, O.Fr. estat, from L. status "state or condition," from root of stare "to stand" from PIE base *sta- "to stand" (see stet). Oldest sense is of "rank, standing, condition;" sense of "property" is c.1385, from "worldly prosperity;" specific application to "landed property" (usually of large extent) is first recorded in Amer.Eng. 1623. A native word for this was M.E. ethel (O.E. æðel) "ancestral land or estate, patrimony." Meaning "collective assets of a dead person or debtor" is from 1830. The three estates (in Sweden and Aragon, four) conceived as orders in the body politic date from c.1380. In France, they are the clergy, nobles, and townsmen; in England, originally the clergy, barons, and commons, later Lords Spiritual, Lords Temporal, and commons. For Fourth Estate see four.
everything you own; all of your assets (whether real property or personal property) and liabilities
2.
extensive landed property (especially in the country) retained by the owner for his own use; "the family owned a large estate on Long Island"
3.
a major social class or order of persons regarded collectively as part of the body politic of the country (especially in the United Kingdom) and formerly possessing distinct political rights [syn: estate of the realm]
Es*tate"\, n. [OF. estat, F. ['e]tat, L. status, fr. stare to stand. See Stand, and cf. State.]1. Settled condition or form of existence; state; condition or circumstances of life or of any person; situation. "When I came to man's estate." --Shak. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. --Romans xii. 16. 2. Social standing or rank; quality; dignity. God hath imprinted his authority in several parts, upon several estates of men. --Jer. Taylor. 3. A person of high rank. [Obs.] She's a duchess, a great estate. --Latimer. Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee. --Mark vi. 21. 4. A property which a person possesses; a fortune; possessions, esp. property in land; also, property of all kinds which a person leaves to be divided at his death. See what a vast estate he left his son. --Dryden. 5. The state; the general body politic; the common-wealth; the general interest; state affairs. [Obs.] I call matters of estate not only the parts of sovereignty, but whatsoever . . . concerneth manifestly any great portion of people. --Bacon. 6. pl. The great classes or orders of a community or state (as the clergy, the nobility, and the commonalty of England) or their representatives who administer the government; as, the estates of the realm (England), which are (1) the lords spiritual, (2) the lords temporal, (3) the commons. 7. (Law) The degree, quality, nature, and extent of one's interest in, or ownership of, lands, tenements, etc.; as, an estate for life, for years, at will, etc. --Abbott. The fourth estate, a name often given to the public press.
Es*tate"\, v. t. 1. To establish. [Obs.] --Beau. & Fl. 2. Tom settle as a fortune. [Archaic] --Shak. 3. To endow with an estate. [Archaic] Then would I . . . Estate them with large land and territory. --Tennyson.
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