heirloom
UK /ˈɛə.luːm/ · US /ˈɛɚ.lum/ noun
Forms heirlooms heir-loom
- noun A valued possession that has been passed down through the generations.
- noun (horticulture) An old crop variety that has been passed down through generations of farmers by seed saving and cultivation, in contrast to modern cultivars used in large-scale agriculture.
Synonyms
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English heirlome (“heirloom”, literally “a tool or article passed to one's heirs”). By surface analysis, heir + loom.
Displaced native Old English fæderġestrēon.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Any furniture, movable, or personal chattel, which by law or special custom descends to the heir along with the inheritance; any piece of personal property that has been in a family for several generations.
Etymology [Heir + loom, in its earlier sense of implement, tool. See Loom the frame.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “heirloom”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details