v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Inherited; p. pr. & vb. n. Inheriting. ] [ OE. enheriten to inherit, to give a heritage to, OF. enheriter to appoint as an heir, L. inhereditare; pref. in- in + hereditare to inherit, fr. heres heir. See Heir. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. (Law) To take by descent from an ancestor; to take by inheritance; to take as heir on the death of an ancestor or other person to whose estate one succeeds; to receive as a right or title descendible by law from an ancestor at his decease; as, the heir inherits the land or real estate of his father; the eldest son of a nobleman inherits his father's title; the eldest son of a king inherits the crown. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To receive or take by birth; to have by nature; to derive or acquire from ancestors, as mental or physical qualities, genes, or genetic traits; as, he inherits a strong constitution, a tendency to disease, etc.; to inherit hemophilia [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

Prince Harry is valiant; for the cold blood he did naturally inherit of his father he hath . . . manured . . . with good store of fertile sherris. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To come into possession of; to possess; to own; to enjoy as a possession. [ 1913 Webster ]

But the meek shall inherit the earth. Ps. xxxvii. 11. [ 1913 Webster ]

To bury so much gold under a tree,
And never after to inherit it. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To put in possession of. [ R. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To take or hold a possession, property, estate, or rights by inheritance. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thou shalt not inherit our father's house. Judg. xi. 2. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality of being inheritable or descendible to heirs. Jefferson. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Capable of being inherited; transmissible or descendible; as, an inheritable estate or title. Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Capable of being transmitted from parent to child; as, inheritable qualities or infirmities. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. [ Cf. OF. enheritable, inheritable. ] Capable of taking by inheritance, or of receiving by descent; capable of succeeding to, as an heir. [ 1913 Webster ]

By attainder . . . the blood of the person attainted is so corrupted as to be rendered no longer inheritable. Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

The eldest daughter of the king is also alone inheritable to the crown on failure of issue male. Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

Inheritable blood, blood or relationship by which a person becomes qualified to be an heir, or to transmit possessions by inheritance. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. By inheritance. Sherwood. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. OF. enheritance. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. The act or state of inheriting; as, the inheritance of an estate; the inheritance of mental or physical qualities. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which is or may be inherited; that which is derived by an heir from an ancestor or other person; a heritage; a possession which passes by descent. [ 1913 Webster ]

When the man dies, let the inheritance
Descend unto the daughter. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A permanent or valuable possession or blessing, esp. one received by gift or without purchase; a benefaction. [ 1913 Webster ]

To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away. 1 Pet. i. 4. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Possession; ownership; acquisition. “The inheritance of their loves.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

To you th' inheritance belongs by right
Of brother's praise; to you eke 'longs his love. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Biol.) Transmission and reception by animal or plant generation. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Law) A perpetual or continuing right which a man and his heirs have to an estate; an estate which a man has by descent as heir to another, or which he may transmit to another as his heir; an estate derived from an ancestor to an heir in course of law. Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The word inheritance (used simply) is mostly confined to the title to land and tenements by a descent. Mozley & W. [ 1913 Webster ]

Men are not proprietors of what they have, merely for themselves; their children have a title to part of it which comes to be wholly theirs when death has put an end to their parents' use of it; and this we call inheritance. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. (Genetics) tending to occur among members of a family usually by heredity; as, an inherited disease.
Syn. -- familial, genetic, hereditary, transmitted, transmissible. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adj. capable of inheriting by law. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. One who inherits; an heir. [ 1913 Webster ]

Born inheritors of the dignity. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A heiress. Milman. [ 1913 Webster ]