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Webster 1913 Edition

Legitimate

Le-git′i-mate

(-mā̍t)
,
Adj.
[LL.
legitimatus
, p. p. of
legitimare
to legitimate, fr. L.
legitimus
legitimate. See
Legal
.]
1.
Accordant with law or with established legal forms and requirements; lawful;
as,
legitimate
government;
legitimate
rights; the
legitimate
succession to the throne; a
legitimate
proceeding of an officer; a
legitimate
heir.
2.
Lawfully begotten; born in wedlock.
3.
Authorized; real; genuine; not false, counterfe`t, or spurious;
as,$
legitimate
poems of Chaucer;
legitimate
inscriptions.
4.
Conforming to known principles, or accepted rules;
as,
legitimate
reasoning; a
legitimate
standard, or method; a
legitimate
combination of colors.
Tillotson still keeps his place as a
legitimate
English classic.
Macaulay.
5.
Following by logical sequence; reasonable;
as, a
legitimate
result; a
legitimate
inference.

Le-git′i-mate

(-māt)
,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Legitimated
(-māˊtĕd)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Legitimating
(-māˊtĭng)
.]
To make legitimate, lawful, or valid; esp., to put in the position or state of a legitimate person before the law, by legal means;
as, to
legitimate
a bastard child
.
To enact a statute of that which he dares not seem to approve, even to
legitimate
vice.
Milton.

Webster 1828 Edition

Legitimate

LEGIT'IMATE

,
Adj.
[L. legitimus, from lex, law.]
1.
Lawfully begotten or born; born in wedlock; as legitimate heirs or children.
2.
Genuine; real; proceeding from a pure source; not false or spurious; as legitimate arguments or inferences.

LEGIT'IMATE

, v.t.
1.
To make lawful
2.
To render legitimate; to communicate the rights of a legitimate child to one that is illegitimate; to invest with the rights of a lawful heir.

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