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inheritance

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inheritance

 

  3  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Inheritance  \In*her"it*ance\,  n.  [Cf.  OF  enheritance.] 
  1.  The  act  or  state  of  inheriting;  as  the  inheritance  of  an 
  estate;  the  inheritance  of  mental  or  physical  qualities. 
 
  2.  That  which  is  or  may  be  inherited;  that  which  is  derived 
  by  an  heir  from  an  ancestor  or  other  person;  a  heritage;  a 
  possession  which  passes  by  descent. 
 
  When  the  man  dies,  let  the  inheritance  Descend  unto 
  the  daughter.  --Shak. 
 
  3.  A  permanent  or  valuable  possession  or  blessing,  esp.  one 
  received  by  gift  or  without  purchase;  a  benefaction. 
 
  To  an  inheritance  incorruptible,  and  undefiled,  and 
  that  fadeth  not  away  --1  Pet.  i.  4. 
 
  4.  Possession;  ownership;  acquisition.  ``The  inheritance  of 
  their  loves.''  --Shak. 
 
  To  you  th'  inheritance  belongs  by  right  Of  brother's 
  praise;  to  you  eke  ?longs  his  love.  --Spenser. 
 
  5.  (Biol.)  Transmission  and  reception  by  animal  or  plant 
  generation. 
 
  6.  (Law)  A  perpetual  or  continuing  right  which  a  man  and  his 
  heirs  have  to  an  estate;  an  estate  which  a  man  has  by 
  descent  as  heir  to  another,  or  which  he  may  transmit  to 
  another  as  his  heir;  an  estate  derived  from  an  ancestor  to 
  an  heir  in  course  of  law.  --Blackstone. 
 
  Note:  The  word  inheritance  (used  simply)  is  mostly  confined 
  to  the  title  to  land  and  tenements  by  a  descent. 
  --Mozley  &  W. 
 
  Men  are  not  proprietors  of  what  they  have  merely 
  for  themselves;  their  children  have  a  title  to 
  part  of  it  which  comes  to  be  wholly  theirs  when 
  death  has  put  an  end  to  their  parents'  use  of  it 
  and  this  we  call  inheritance.  --Locke. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  inheritance 
  n  1:  any  acquisition  from  past  generations  [syn:  {heritage}] 
  2:  a  title  or  property  that  is  inherited  [syn:  {heritage}] 
  3:  attributes  acquired  via  biological  heredity 
  4:  any  attribute  that  passes  from  parent  to  offspring  [syn:  {heritage}] 
 
  From  The  Free  On-line  Dictionary  of  Computing  (13  Mar  01)  [foldoc]: 
 
  inheritance 
 
    In  {object-oriented 
  programming},  the  ability  to  derive  new  {classes}  from 
  existing  classes.  A  derived  class  ("subclass")  inherits  the 
  {instance  variables}  and  {methods}  of  the  "base  class" 
  ("superclass"),  and  may  add  new  instance  variables  and 
  methods.  New  methods  may  be  defined  with  the  same  names  as 
  those  in  the  base  class,  in  which  case  they  override  the 
  original  one 
 
  For  example,  bytes  might  belong  to  the  class  of  integers  for 
  which  an  add  method  might  be  defined.  The  byte  class  would 
  inherit  the  add  method  from  the  integer  class. 
 
  See  also  {multiple  inheritance}. 
 
  (2000-10-10)




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