First recorded in 1720–30
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He had discovered thus, accidentally, that old Mr. Dorrit was probably the heir at law to a great estate that had lain for years forgotten, unclaimed and growing larger all the time.
From Tales from Dickens by Rives, Hallie Erminie
"He is the only heir at law so far as we know," said Mr. Perkins.
From The Stillwater Tragedy by Aldrich, Thomas Bailey
Land which belongs or would belong to a child as heir at law or customary heir need not be brought in to the common fund, even though such land was given during the father's life.
From The Project Gutenberg Encyclopedia Volume 1 of 28 by Project Gutenberg
It was Wheeler who had first told Bassett not to despair of possessing the estates, since they had inserted Sir Charles's heir at law in the entail.
From A Terrible Temptation A Story of To-Day by Reade, Charles
As he enjoyed an almost uninterrupted state of health, he was the less mindful of his dissolution, and died intestate; by which means his whole fortune devolved to a nearer relation, the heir at law.
From The Works of Samuel Johnson, Volume 04 The Adventurer; The Idler by Johnson, Samuel
The estate would go, of course, to the heir-at-law, strictly entailed as it had been for many generations.
From Nevermore by Bolderwood, Rolf
They won't find Mr. Harrisson's heir-at-law in a hurry.
From Somehow Good by De Morgan, William Frend
Merely because Mr. Richard Hildebrand chose to ignore the claims of the heir-at-law.
From In Jeopardy by Sutphen, Van Tassel
A colonial heir-at-law might be a monstrous bore.
From Hopes and Fears or, scenes from the life of a spinster by Yonge, Charlotte Mary
Meantime Lord Altham's pecuniary difficulties had so increased as to induce him to endeavor to borrow money on his reversionary interest in the estates of the Earl of Anglesey, to whom he was heir-at-law.
From Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Volume V (of 10) by Lockhart, J. G. (John Gibson)
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.
