bequest
/bɪˈkwɛst/ noun, verb
Forms bequests bequesting bequested
- noun The act of bequeathing or leaving by will.
- noun The transfer of property upon the owner's death according to the will of the deceased.
- noun That which is left by will; a legacy.
- noun That which has been handed down or transmitted.
- noun A person's inheritance; an amount of property given by will.
- verb (transitive) To give as a bequest; bequeath.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English biqueste, bequeste (“will, testament, bequest”), from be- + quiste, queste (“saying, utterance, testament, will, legacy”), from Old English *cwist, *cwiss (“saying”) (compare Old English andcwiss, ġecwis, uncwisse, etc.), from Proto-Germanic *kwissiz (“saying”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷet- (“to say”). Related to Old English andcwiss (“answer, reply”), Old English uncwisse (“dumb, mute”), Middle English bequethen (“to bequeath”). Not related to quest, which is from Latin. More at quoth, bequeath.
From Middle English biquesten, from the noun (see above).
Webster’s 1913
- noun The act of bequeathing or leaving by will; as, a bequest of property by A. to B.
- noun That which is left by will, esp. personal property; a legacy; also, a gift.
- verb To bequeath, or leave as a legacy. [Obs.] "All I have to bequest." Gascoigne.
Etymology [OE. biquest, corrupted fr. bequide; pref. be- + AS. cwide a saying, becwe to bequeath. The ending -est is probably due to confusion with quest. See Bequeath, Quest.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “bequest”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details