first estate

American  

noun

1. the first of the three estates: the clergy in France; the Lords Spiritual in England.

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first estate British  

noun

1. the first of the three estates of the realm, such as the Lords Spiritual in England or the clergy in France until the revolution

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Etymology

Origin of first estate

First recorded in 1930–35

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

first estate

When I attended my first estate sale in November at a Beverly Hills home, a stunning vintage Teac A-7010 tape recorder caught my attention.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2023

Anson MacAuslan was among the first estate managers to secure funding from Peatland Action — a project funded by the Scottish government to restore peatlands.

From Nature ● Feb. 11, 2020

Everywhere, man had at the beginning been innocent and happy, and had lapsed, by temptation and his own weakness, from his first estate.

From Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry by Pike, Albert

But the power which it wields is so enormous and so widespread that it would be nearer the truth to concede to it the dignity of the first estate.

From The Continental Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 1, January, 1864 by Various

I confess the Scripture does not expressly attribute these several endowments to Adam in his first estate.

From The World's Great Sermons, Volume 02 Hooker to South by Kleiser, Grenville