Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Abeyance
A-bey′ance
,Noun.
[OF.
abeance
expectation, longing; a
(L. ad
) + baer
, beer
, to gape, to look with open mouth, to expect, F. bayer
, LL. badare
to gape.] 1.
(Law)
Expectancy; condition of being undetermined.
☞ When there is no person in existence in whom an inheritance (or a dignity) can vest, it is said to be in abeyance, that is, in expectation; the law considering it as always potentially existing, and ready to vest whenever a proper owner appears.
Blackstone.
2.
Suspension; temporary suppression.
Keeping the sympathies of love and admiration in a dormant state, or state of
abeyance
. De Quincey.
Webster 1828 Edition
Abeyance
ABEY'ANCE
,Noun.
In expectation or contemplation of law. The fee simple or inheritance of lands and tenements is in abeyance, when there is no person in being in whom it can vest; so that it is in a state of expectancy or waiting until a proper person shall appear. Thus if land is leased to a man for life, remainder to another for years, the remainder for years is in abeyance, till the death of the lessee, for life.
Definition 2024
abeyance
abeyance
English
Noun
abeyance (plural abeyances)
- (law) Expectancy; condition of ownership of real property being undetermined; lapse in succession of ownership of estate, or title. [Late 16th century][4]
- The proceeds of the estate shall be held in abeyance in an escrow account until the minor reaches age twenty-one.
- 1765, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England:
- Yet sometimes the fee may be in abeyance, that is (as the word signifies) in expectation, remembrance, and contemplation in law; there being no person in esse, in whom it can vest and abide […]
- Suspension; temporary suppression; dormant condition. [Mid 17th century][4]
- 2003, Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything, BCA, published 2003, page 376:
- Without a plausible explanation for what might have provoked an ice age, the whole theory fell into abeyance.
-
- (heraldry) Expectancy of a title, its right in existence but its exercise suspended.
- The broad pennant of a commodore first class has been in abeyance since 1958, together with the rank.
Translations
expectancy; condition of being undetermined
|
suspension; temporary suppression
heraldry: expectancy of a title
References
- ↑ William Morris (editor), The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1971 [1969]; American Heritage Publishing Co., Inc.; ISBN 0-395-09066-0), page 3
- ↑ Philip Babcock Gove (editor), Webster's Third International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (G. & C. Merriam Co., 1976 [1909], ISBN 0-87779-101-5), page 3
- ↑ Elliott K. Dobbie, C. William Dunmore, Robert K. Barnhart, et al. (editors), Chambers Dictionary of Etymology (Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2004 [1998], ISBN 0550142304), page 2
- 1 2 Lesley Brown (editor), The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 5th edition (Oxford University Press, 2003 [1933], ISBN 978-0-19-860575-7), page 4