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s his pride. Goldsmith. A people which takes no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote descendants. Macaulay.

The first ancestor; a forefather.

Proceeding from, as from a parent; derived, as from an ancestor. [R.] The threefold distinction of profectitious, adventitious, and professional was ascertained. Gibbon.

An ancestor in the direct line; a forefather. And reverence thee their great progenitor. Milton.

Nearest; next immediately preceding or following. "Proximate ancestors." J. S. Harford. The proximate natural causes of it [the deluge]. T. Burnet. Proximate analysis (Chem.), an analysis which determines the proximate principles of any substance, as contrasted with an ultimate analysis. -- Proximate cause. (a) A caus…

The descendants of a common ancestor; a family, tribe, people, or nation, believed or presumed to belong to the same stock; a lineage; a breed. The whole race of mankind. Shak. Whence the long race of Alban fathers come. Dryden.

ts (Law), lands or real estate in the hands of the heir, chargeable with the debts of the ancestor. -- Real composition (Eccl. Law), an agreement made between the owner of lands and the parson or vicar, with consent of the ordinary, that such lands shall be discharged from payment of tithes, in consequence of other la…

act with authority in behalf of; to act the part of (another); as, an heir represents his ancestor; an attorney represents his client in court; a member of Congress represents his district in Congress.

revert. [Obs.] The inheritance of the son never resorted to the mother, or to any of her ancestors. Sir M. Hale.

An ancestor or progenitor; and hence, an early race; a stem. They were the roots out of which sprang two distinct people. Locke.

ignorant; raw; unskillful; -- said of persons, or of conduct, skill, and the like. "Mine ancestors were rude." Chaucer. He was but rude in the profession of arms. Sir H. Wotton. the rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep. Gray.

Of or pertaining to Sarmatia, or its inhabitants, the ancestors of the Russians und the Poles.

zard priest, deals with good as well as with evil spirits, especially the good spirits of ancestors. Encyc. Brit.

One of the two great systems of religious belief in Japan. Its essence is ancestor worship, and sacrifice to dead heroes. [Written also Sintu, and Sintuism.]

To issue or proceed, as from a parent or ancestor; to result, as from a cause, motive, reason, or principle. [They found] new hope to spring Out of despair, joy, but with fear yet linked. Milton.

ation; to choke to death by compressing the throat, as with the hand or a rope. Our Saxon ancestors compelled the adulteress to strangle herself. Ayliffe.

ilton. Ladies [in Shakespeare's age] . . . wore masks as the sole substitute known to our ancestors for the modern parasol. De Quincey.

The right to enter upon the possession of the property of an ancestor, or one near of kin, or one preceding in an established order.

possess as a tenant. Sir Roger's estate is tenanted by persons who have served him or his ancestors. Addison.

ormation, opinions, doctrines, practices, rites, and customs, from father to son, or from ancestors to posterity; the transmission of any knowledge, opinions, or practice, from forefathers to descendants by oral communication, without written memorials.