BEQUEATH

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does bequeath mean? 

• BEQUEATH (verb)
  The verb BEQUEATH has 1 sense:

1. leave or give by will after one's death

  Familiarity information: BEQUEATH used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BEQUEATH (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they bequeath    ... he / she / it bequeaths   
Past simple: bequeathed   
Past participle: bequeathed   
-ing form: bequeathing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Leave or give by will after one's death

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

bequeath; leave; will

Context example:

My grandfather left me his entire estate

Hypernyms (to "bequeath" is one way to...):

gift; give; present (give as a present; make a gift of)

Verb group:

leave; leave behind (be survived by after one's death)

give; impart; leave; pass on (transmit (knowledge or skills))

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "bequeath"):

devise (give by will, especially real property)

pass on (give to or transfer possession of)

remember (show appreciation to)

entail; fee-tail (limit the inheritance of property to a specific class of heirs)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody something
Somebody ----s something to somebody

Sentence examples:

They bequeath the money to them
They bequeath them the money

Antonym:

disinherit (prevent deliberately (as by making a will) from inheriting)

 Context examples 

It was a knowledge bequeathed to him directly from the hunting generation of wolves.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

All the rest he died possessed of, he bequeathed to Peggotty; whom he left residuary legatee, and sole executrix of that his last will and testament.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Yes—the late Mr. Darcy bequeathed me the next presentation of the best living in his gift.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

The latter informs the party that she bequeaths untold wealth to the young pair and an awful doom to Don Pedro, if he doesn't make them happy.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Our respected father, as you well know, bequeathed all the Stanhill effects that remained at Norland (and very valuable they were) to your mother.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Three girls, the two eldest sixteen and fourteen, was an awful legacy for a mother to bequeath, an awful charge rather, to confide to the authority and guidance of a conceited, silly father.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

She had a considerable sum of money—not less than £ 1000 a year—and this she bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to each of us in the event of our marriage.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

My father always cherished the idea that he would atone for his error by leaving his possessions to us; that letter informs us that he has bequeathed every penny to the other relation, with the exception of thirty guineas, to be divided between St. John, Diana, and Mary Rivers, for the purchase of three mourning rings.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

No. I merely say, with quite another view, you are probably aware I have some property to bequeath to my child?

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

But her death, which happened ten years before his own, produced a great alteration in his home; for to supply her loss, he invited and received into his house the family of his nephew Mr. Henry Dashwood, the legal inheritor of the Norland estate, and the person to whom he intended to bequeath it.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)