bequeath
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
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law to dispose of (property, esp personal property) by will Compare devise
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to hand down; pass on, as to following generations
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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has bequeathedperfect 3rd person singular
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have bequeathedperfect
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are bequeathingprogressive
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is bequeathingprogressive 3rd person singular
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have been bequeathingperfect progressive
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has been bequeathingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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bequeathssingular 3rd person
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am bequeathingprogressive 1st person singular
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bequeathingparticiple
Past
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had bequeathedperfect
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was bequeathingprogressive singular
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had been bequeathingperfect progressive
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were bequeathingprogressive plural
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bequeathedparticiple
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bequeathedsimple
Future
Etymology
Origin of bequeath
First recorded before 1000; Middle English bequethen, Old English becwethan ( be- be- + cwethan “to say” ( see quoth), cognate with Old High German quedan, Gothic qithan )
Explanation
To bequeath is to leave your possessions to another person after you die. A man might love his classic cars but would be happy to bequeath them to his grandchildren when he writes out his last will and testament. Bequeath often is used about making plans to give away property and possessions after a person's death, like the pearl necklace that your great-grandmother bequeathed to you or a house that your uncle bequeathed to a his favorite charity. Sometimes bequeath is used for things handed down without death, as when living parents and grandparents pass, or bequeath, a legacy of stories or family traits and talents as an inheritance.
Vocabulary lists containing bequeath
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "B"
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Grade 11, List 3
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
O minstrel galleons of Carib fire, Bequeath us to no earthly shore until Is answered in the vortex of our grave The seal's wide spindrift gaze toward paradise.
From Time Magazine Archive
Moreover, why should former lives Bequeath their weight of woe, If with it comes no memory To guide us, as we go?
From Poems by Stoddard, John L. (John Lawson)
And this should be the human sum Of knowledge, to know mortal nature's nothingness; Bequeath that science to thy children, and 'Twill spare them many tortures.
From The Works of Lord Byron. Vol. 5 Poetry by Coleridge, Ernest Hartley
Or shall I not, refusing such promotion, Bequeath to London my contented ghost?
From Twenty by Benson, Stella
Come; I'll fill your grave up: stir; nay, come away; Bequeath to death your numbness, for from him Dear life redeems you.—You perceive she stirs.
From The Winter's Tale by Shakespeare, William
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
