escheat
To put in escheat; to confiscateTo put (land, property) in escheat; to confiscate.
Meaning
2 senses(transitive)To put (land, property) in escheat; to confiscate.
(intransitive)To revert, convert, or vest ownership to the government or lord because its previous owner died without an heir or a business closed and no one claims the assets.
Origin
From Middle English escheat, achete, eschete (“the reversion or conversion of property toFrom Middle English escheat, achete, eschete (“the reversion or conversion of property to the government”), from Anglo-Norman eschete and Old French eschet, escheit, escheoit (“that which falls to one”), past participle of escheoir (“to fall”) (modern French échoir), from Late Latin *excadēre (“fall away, fall out”), from (Latin) ex- + cadere (“fall”). Doublet of cheat.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
escheats, escheating, escheated, escheatedTenses
escheat · escheated · will escheat · have escheatedWord family
8 related wordsLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.