tanistry
tanistry is defined in Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913) with 1 sense. The full text of each entry is reproduced verbatim below.
Definitions
- 1.In Ireland, a tenure of family lands by which the proprietor had only a life estate, to which he was admitted by election. Note: The primitive intention seems to have been that the inheritance should descend to the oldest or most worthy of the blood and name of the deceased. This was, in reality, giving it to the strongest; and the practice often occasioned bloody feuds in families, for which reason it was abolished under James I.
Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Definitions: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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