Escheat

Origin

From Middle English eschete, from Anglo-Norman escheat, Old French eschet, escheit, escheoit ("that which falls to one"), from the past participle of eschoir ("to fall"), from Vulgar Latin *excadō, from Latin ex + cadō ("I fall").

Noun

1. (legal) The return of property of a deceased person to the state (originally to a feudal lord) where there are no legal heirs or claimants.
2. (legal) The property so reverted.
3. (obsolete) Plunder, booty.
• 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.viii:Approching, with bold words and bitter threat,
  Bad that same boaster, as he mote, on high
  To leaue to him that Lady for excheat,
  Or bide him battell without further treat.
4. That which falls to one; a reversion or return.
• SpenserTo make me great by others' loss is bad escheat.

Full definition of escheat

Verb

1. (of property) To revert to a state or lord because its previous owner died without an heir.

Derived terms

• escheator
• escheatment

Anagrams

• ceaseth
• teaches