FromMiddle Englishenheriten, fromOld Frenchenheriter, fromLate Latininhereditare(“make heir”). Displaced nativeOld Englishierfan.
inherit (third-person singular simple presentinherits,present participleinheriting,simple past and past participleinherited)
- (transitive) Toreceive(property, a title, etc.), bylegalsuccession orbequest after the previous owner's death.
- Antonyms:bequeath,leave
After Grandad died, Iinherited the house.
- (intransitive) To come into an inheritance.
Lucky old Daniel – his grandfather died rich, and he'sinherited.
- (transitive) To take possession of as a right(especially in Biblical translations).
Your descendants willinherit the earth.
- (transitive, biology) To receive acharacteristic from one's ancestors bygenetictransmission.
Let's hope the babyinherits his mother's looks and his father's intelligence.
- (transitive) To derive from people or conditions previously in force.
This country hasinherited an invidious class culture.
- (computing, programming, transitive) To derive (existingfunctionality) from asuperclass.
ModalWindowinherits all the properties and methods of Window.
- (computing, programming, transitive) To derive a newclass from (a superclass).
2006, Daniel Solis,Illustrated C# 2005:For example, the following two code segments, from different assemblies, show how easy it is toinherit a class from another assembly.
- (transitive, obsolete) To put in possession of.
c.1590–1591 (date written),William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act III, scene ii]:This, or else nothing, willinherit her
to receive property or a title by legal succession etc.
to come into an inheritance
to take possession of as a right
to receive a characteristic by genetic transmission
to derive from people or conditions previously in force
