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

Since the fiat went forth, amid the groves of Eden, when man lost his first estate, "by the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread," God has never reversed his edict.

From Twentieth Century Negro Literature Or, A Cyclopedia of Thought on the Vital Topics Relating to the American Negro by Culp, Daniel Wallace

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

But the dahlia itself—what was that in its first estate, in the country in which it was first found in its aboriginal structure and complexion? 

From A Walk from London to John O'Groat's by Burritt, Elihu