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.