Hypertext Webster Gateway: "ancestor"

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Ancestor \An"ces*tor\, n. [OE. ancestre, auncestre, also
ancessour; the first forms fr. OF. ancestre, F. anc[^e]tre,
fr. the L. nom. antessor one who goes before; the last form
fr. OF. ancessor, fr. L. acc. antecessorem, fr. antecedere to
go before; ante before + cedere to go. See {Cede}, and cf.
{Antecessor}.]
1. One from whom a person is descended, whether on the
father's or mother's side, at any distance of time; a
progenitor; a fore father.

2. (Biol.) An earlier type; a progenitor; as, this fossil
animal is regarded as the ancestor of the horse.

3. (Law) One from whom an estate has descended; -- the
correlative of heir.

From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)

ancestor
n : someone from whom you are descended (but usually more remote
that a grandparent) [syn: {ascendant}, {ascendent}, {antecedent},
{root}] [ant: {descendant}]


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