Hypertext Webster Gateway: "advowson"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Advowson \Ad*vow"son\ (?; 277), n. [OE. avoweisoun, OF.
avo["e]son, fr. L. advocatio. Cf. {Advocation}.] (Eng. Law)
The right of presenting to a vacant benefice or living in the
church. [Originally, the relation of a patron (advocatus) or
protector of a benefice, and thus privileged to nominate or
present to it.]
Note: The benefices of the Church of England are in every
case subjects of presentation. They are nearly 12,000
in number; the advowson of more than half of them
belongs to private persons, and of the remainder to the
crown, bishops, deans and chapters, universities, and
colleges. --Amer. Cyc.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
advowson
n : the right in English law of presenting a nominee to a vacant
ecclesiastical benefice
Additional Hypertext Webster Gateway Lookup
Gateway by dict@stokkie.net
stock only wrote the gateway and does not have any control over the contents;
see the Webster Gateway FAQ,
and also the Back-end/database links and credits.