Search the Dictionary

A Hebrew patriarch (son of Isaac, and ancestor of the Jews), who in a vision saw a ladder reaching up to heaven (Gen. xxviii. 12); -- also called Israel. And Jacob said . . . with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I am become two bands. Gen. xxxii. 9, 10. Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel. Ge…

A tutelary deity; a deceased ancestor regarded as a protector of the family. The domestic Lares were the tutelar deities of a house; household gods. Hence, Eng.: Hearth or dwelling house. Nor will she her dear Lar forget, Victorious by his benefit. Lovelace. The Lars and Lemures moan with midnight plaint. Milton. Looki…

A series or succession of ancestors or descand ants of a given person; a family or race; as, the ascending or descending line; the line of descent; the male line; a line of kings. Of his lineage am I, and his offspring By very line, as of the stock real. Chaucer.

Descending in a direct line from an ancestor; hereditary; derived from ancestors; -- opposed to collateral; as, a lineal descent or a lineal descendant. The prime and ancient right of lineal succession. Locke.

Renown; splendor; distinction; glory. His ancestors continued about four hundred years, rather without obscurity than with any great luster. Sir H. Wotton.

Ancestors; ancestry. [Obs.]

The benevolent spirits of the dead, especially of dead ancestors, regarded as family deities and protectors. Hail, O ye holy manes! Dryden.

Derived from the name of one's mother, or other female ancestor; as, a metronymic name or appellation. -- A metronymic appellation.

Received by birth or from ancestors; native, natural; as, mother language; also acting the part, or having the place of a mother; producing others; originating. It is the mother falsehood from which all idolatry is derived. T. Arnold. Mother cell (Biol.), a cell which, by endogenous divisions, gives rise to other cells…

The country of one's ancestors; -- same as fatherland.

e materials packed up with wonderful art. Addison. Where . . . the bones Of all my buried ancestors are packed. Shak.

The holding or occupation of an inheritable estate which descends from the ancestor to two or more persons; coheirship.

Descent from parents or ancestors; parents or ancestors considered with respect to their rank or character; extraction; birth; as, a man of noble parentage. "Wilt thou deny thy parentage" Shak. Though men esteem thee low of parentage. Milton.

murders one's own father; in a wider sense, one who murders one's father or mother or any ancestor.

Of or pertaining to a patrimony; inherited from ancestors; as, a patrimonial estate.

A right or estate inherited from one's father; or, in a larger sense, from any ancestor. "'Reave the orphan of his patrimony." Shak.

Derived from ancestors; as, a patronymic denomination.

A line of ancestors; descent; lineage; genealogy; a register or record of a line of ancestors. Alterations of surnames . . . have obscured the truth of our pedigrees. Camden. His vanity labored to contrive us a pedigree. Milton. I am no herald to inquire of men's pedigrees. Sir P. Sidney. The Jews preserved the pedigre…

One's ancestors or family; kindred; relations; as, my people were English.

ing to the furthest generation; the aggregate number of persons who are descended from an ancestor of a generation; descendants; -- contrasted with ancestry; as, the posterity of Abraham. If [the crown] should not stand in thy posterity. Shak.